


Signed, Sealed, Delivered

by ohemgeeitscoley



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Amilyn/Snoke, Background Relationships, F/M, Rose/Kaydel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-19
Updated: 2020-11-28
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:55:34
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 40,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26002279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohemgeeitscoley/pseuds/ohemgeeitscoley
Summary: Rey and Ben are assistants for two busy bosses and they are in need of a break. It only makes sense to set up their bosses to free up their schedule.Or, a Set It Up AU
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 21
Kudos: 73
Collections: Let's Go to the Movies - Reylo Readers & Writers Prompt Exchange





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

  * For [arrum_rose](https://archiveofourown.org/users/arrum_rose/gifts).



> I was so excited to sign up for this exchange and then I was even more excited to write for this prompt! I really hope that it's something you enjoy Kailee, I tried stalking you pretty hard on Twitter to get an idea of what you might like :)
> 
> Big shout out to my lovely wonderful friends who beta read this and did all of the cheer leading and made sure that it sounded okay so I could post it. I really don't know what I would do without you guys.
> 
> I think that this will be about 5 chapters, but the chapter count might go up. I am currently planning on posting once a week!

This is not where Ben wanted to be in life. When he was a child imagining his future being a 28 year old assistant for a giant dick was not even remotely on the list of possibilities. 

But here he is spending his Friday night standing outside of a building with an annoying bouncer reminding him that the doorway was for members only.

The fucking doorway.

Ben could be a member if he wanted. If he wasn't too stubborn to touch his inheritance. But he wanted to make it in life on his own merits and not because of old money and his family's name.

Nights like tonight make it hard to remember any of it matters.

His mom has been on him more the last few months. He's been Snoke's assistant for two years. The last assistant had only had the job for a year before Snoke got him set up as a VP for a large hedge fund. 

Ben's been wasting his time getting Snoke food and encouraging him through drinking green juice for two years with nothing to show for it.

He knows he should take his mom up on her offer. Hell, he could call his uncle and get a position at his company and really no one would blink. 

But it matters to him. He doesn't want to rely on nepotism and to be in a position he hasn't earned.

He has an MBA. He didn't think it would be this hard.

Ben sighs, shoving one hand into his pant pocket and scrolls through the messages on his phone.

Most are from his mom. Reminding him that he is supposed to go home this weekend for a family dinner. As if he is going to have time for that. There are a few from Poe talking about a new guy he met at the bar and some random items Ben assumes are groceries Poe wants him to pick up whenever he heads home.

It's almost midnight and he's been standing on a sidewalk for 45 minutes. 

His boss finally walks out of the building and he's already harping at Ben about different things and Ben is having a hard time caring and paying attention. Snoke stops next to Ben, adjusting his tie, before running his hands through his slightly turning silver brown hair. 

“Alright,” Snoke says, unscrewing the lid from one of those God awful green juices he keeps buying, “do your thing.”

Ben responds immediately, listing off the first few better tasting foods that come to his mind. Snoke downs the drink and tosses him the bottle, like he has anywhere to throw it away, and heads toward the car that is waiting for them.

“So I’ll see you tomorrow then?” Ben asks, opening the door to the car.

“What?” Snoke asks, narrowing his eyes as he glances up from his phone to Ben. “What do you mean tomorrow? You’re going back to the office.”

No, Ben thinks, resisting the urge to grit his teeth. “Right. Of course I am,” he gets out, following Snoke into the car. “Do you want me to order dinner? Since we’re going back to the office?”

Snoke looks at Ben like he’s growing a second head. “I just drank my juice. You just saw me drink my juice.”

Ben did just see him drink his juice. Just like Ben has seen him drink several juices and then act affronted that Ben didn’t order him lunch or dinner twenty minutes later when he realizes he’s still hungry.

The car pulls away from the sidewalk and merges into traffic. It’s going to be a long night.

***

Rey loves her job. Really. She does. Being the assistant for Amilyn Holdo is an honor and a privilege. Amilyn is a force to be reckoned with and there is so much for Rey to learn from her. Not to mention the exposure. Rey is working in one of the best digital media firms in New York. Outside of Amilyn, Rey is surrounded by some of the best writers, editors, and photographers. She’s lucky to have the job. She knows how lucky she is.

However. It is almost midnight on a Friday and she’s been in the office since 6:45 and all she wants to do is go back to her apartment, curl into her bed, and watch a stupid movie and fall asleep. But Amilyn is still in her office on the phone and Rey knows that she can’t leave before Amilyn. It was never a spoken rule, that Rey needs to be the first one to arrive and the last one to leave. But that was because it didn’t need to be said out loud. It was expected.

Rey’s phone buzzes against her desk. Glancing down at the lit up screen, Rey scrunches her nose at the text notification from Kaydel. It’s text number twelve for the night. She was supposed to meet up with Kaydel and Rose for drinks after work. Rey hates that she has been such an absentee friend, but Amilyn had been throwing herself even more into work the last few months and Rey’s social life had all but vanished since then.

Amilyn’s door opens and she throws Rey a fitness watch.

“I need that up to at least 10,000 steps before I leave,” she says, already walking back into her office. “My trainer can’t think that I’m slacking off in between sessions. And order me dinner from that one place.”

Amilyn’s door closes before she’s done talking, her voice muffled. But Rey knows what she says and she knows the place that Amilyn is vaguely referring to because she is a good assistant.

No. She is a great assistant.

Rey opens up the restaurant's website and places Amilyn’s dinner order. Rey’s stomach growls, she isn’t quite sure when she ate last. Amilyn had needed her to take notes during her lunch meeting and Rey didn’t have a chance to eat afterward. Rey glares down at her belly for betraying her and adds dinner for her to the order before sending it out.

Her email pings with the confirmation of her order. The estimated time of arrival is 45 minutes.

45 minutes for two sandwiches at almost midnight seems ridiculous.

Rey calls the restaurant and bickers with them until they concede that the food can be delivered in 30 minutes.

Sliding Amilyn’s watch on her wrist, Rey stands up and stretches her arms before beginning to pace around the office. 

***

"What do you mean you can't take a credit card?" Rey's eyes widen as she starts going through her wallet even though she knows she does not have enough cash to cover the food. She's not sure she has any cash at all. 

Rey is sweaty and gross from trying to get the fitness watch up to 10,000 steps in 30 minutes. Rey had only managed about 4,000 and she feels like her lungs and legs are going to be burning for days. She still had another 3,000 to go.

"We're cash only on deliveries now," the delivery driver answers and he looks like he's contemplating getting ready to take the food and leave.

But Rey needs that food. She can't let her boss down at almost midnight when she said she was going down to the lobby to get her dinner.

"I have… I have Venmo? CashApp? I'll download any app you have actually." Rey offers, pulling out a checkbook. "What about a check?"

The guy rolls his eyes. "You think if we aren't taking cards, we are going to take checks?"

"It's not 1990, so the fact that you guys are refusing to take digital currency led me to believe you were stuck in the past." Rey huffs in annoyance, her brain spiraling trying to come up with another plan.

Rey hears the elevator ding behind her, but she's too distracted by the problem in front of her to pay much attention. 

"I can offer a contract for a small piece of my soul?" Rey jokingly offers. 

"Do you have the $32.50 or not?" He asks, clearly not impressed. 

"Yes, I do have the $32.50," Rey argues, "in any form of currency available to me that is not actually cash in my hand. Which was also nowhere on your website. This seems like a scam. Are you trying to pocket the cash?"

"I don't need this shit," he starts to put the bag away when--

"I have cash," a deep voice says from behind Rey. "I can pay."

Rey turns around quickly and looks at the man walking toward them. 

He's… large. In a fairly tall, very wide kind of way. His face is all sharp angles and his hair is long and dark… and it looks really soft. 

He's vaguely familiar looking. Rey assumes he works in the building too and that she's probably seen him at some point. She's surprised she doesn't remember him though, because he is extremely attractive. 

"You don't have--" Rey starts, before realizing the hot stranger is handing delivery driver money and grabbing the bag and he is stealing her dinner. "Excuse me, that is my dinner. Fuck. That is my boss's dinner."

The delivery driver leaves with a slight flick of his fingers to the other man before walking away.

"I paid for it," the food thief shrugs, "So it's my boss's dinner now."

"No, no, no, no, no," Rey breaths, her mind spinning to come up with a plan as she followed the man toward the elevator. "There's two dinners in there. One for me and one for my boss. I need my boss's dinner. I cannot get fired."

Something near sympathy seems to pass over his face. He pauses, his grip on the bag loosening. 

"And it's about to be my boss's dinner because I cannot get fired."

"Listen," Rey begins, chewing on her bottom lip. "What's your name?"

"Ben," he responds. "And I really need to get back to work."

"So do I, Ben," Rey holds on to the vowel in his name for a few seconds. "But I cannot go back without food. Spare a dinner. Does your boss really need both?"

"What did you get?" Ben asks, but he's already opening the bag before Rey can answer.

He pulls out the first box and hands it to Rey before he grabs the second box and let's the bag fall to the ground. 

Rey opens her box first. It's Amilyn's steak sandwich with blue cheese crumbles and a lettuce wrap instead of a bun. There's a side of pita chips and hummus.

That means Ben has Rey's pulled pork sandwich, with the caramelized onions and perfectly toasted brioche bun. Not to mention the apple slaw and sweet potato fries. 

Rey's mouth waters and her stomach betrays her and rumbles. Her cheeks redden with embarrassment. 

"This is my boss's," Rey holds up the container in her hand. "Yours gets to enjoy mine."

"It's a pulled pork sandwich," he states as if the sandwich is personally offending him. 

"It's an amazing pulled pork sandwich," Rey shakes her head in disbelief. "Does your boss have something against good food?"

"Good?" Ben looks at the sandwich again. "This is a basic sandwich at best. Pork and onions? Sweet potato fries? I'll be the one getting fired if I bring him this. He is a man of refined taste."

"I can fix this." Rey drops to her knees, setting down the steak sandwich and holding out her hand for the container from Ben.

He looks amused when he hands her the box. Rey ignores it and goes to work.

She pulls the top bun off the pulled pork sandwich, trying not to inhale the delicious scent wafting from the box. She takes a handful of bleu cheese crumbles from the other sandwich and sprinkles them over the sandwich. Then she grabs a fork out of the bag and strategically places about a quarter of the apple slaw on top of the onions. 

She then gathers the rest of the apple slaw and puts them in her boss's container, followed by the sweet potato fries. The hummus and pita chips fit perfectly in the box next to the remastered sandwich. 

"There we go," Rey puts the bun back on top of the sandwich and closes the lid to the boxes. She stands slowly, holding out one box for Ben. "Viola, a culinary masterpiece."

"I don't know about that." He gives the container a quizzical look. "But you owe me at least $22 for this."

"What?" Rey scoffs. "That's more than my sandwich was to begin with and you took most of the toppings."

He shrugs. "I saved your ass. There's a tax for that."

"You're a monster," Rey glares at him. "But fine, deal. I'll bring it to you tomorrow, Ben."

"Perfect, I'm on the 22nd floor…" he stops, tilting his head. "I don't know your name."

"Rey," she answers, a smug smile overtaking her face. "I'm on the 23rd floor."

He isn't impressed. Or if he is, he hides it well. The arrogance that rolls off of him is off putting. He walks away to the elevator, pressing the up arrow. "I expect you'll be there no later than 7. I have a life."

"Right," Rey snorts, picking up the bag he left behind on the floor. There was a wrapped pickle inside. Score. "Says the assistant getting his boss dinner at midnight. You'll get it when you get it."

Rey hits the button for the other elevator across the hall. She does not want to be in an elevator with him. 

The doors open for both elevators at the same time. Rey walks into hers first, turning around to see him step. 

"You'll be there by 7, or the interest will double," Ben chuckles.

Rey's mouth falls open. "Interest!" She exclaims, but the elevator door is already closing. "You never said anything about interest you ass--"

The door shuts.

"Asshole," Rey finishes in the elevator. "Absolute asshole."

Rey pouts as she takes a bite into the pickle. Interest. What kind of person charges interest on essentially stolen food.

She's still lost in her thoughts when the elevator opens and [boss] steps in.

"I'm going home," she says, pressing the button for the main floor. 

Rey barely has time to get out of the elevator before the door starts to close.

"I'll be in by 7 tomorrow," she adds just before the doors finally close.

Rey closes her eyes. "Here's your $30 sandwich that I just spent 40 minutes to get for you," Rey says to the vacant office. "And maybe tomorrow I'll pitch my idea about the positive effects of team sports for foster children and other disenfranchised youth."

The majority of the lights are dimmed, leaving the normally colorful and bright walls dark and shadowy. Rey heads toward her desk, unwrapping the sandwich and taking a bite.

She presses the button on the side of her desk to raise it up so she can stand while she finishes eating. Glancing at the time, Rey groans. 12:17. 

By the time she finishes responding to all of Amilyn''s invites, it'll be 1. After the subway ride to her apartment and some much needed unwind time, Rey will be lucky to get three hours of sleep before she has to be back at the office. 

Her skin practically vibrates at the amount of caffeine she is going to need to order in the morning. And she's going to have to stop by an ATM to pull out cash.

Maybe even a bank. 

Because she is only giving Ben $22. Not a penny more.

***

The article Rey is reading when Kaydel and Rose come stumbling into the apartment has her close to tears. She wipes at her eyes quickly as Kaydel throws herself down onto the chair across from Rey. 

“Rey!” Kaydel shouts holding her arms up in a v above her head. “We missed you. You didn’t even respond to the last few messages I sent.”

“I know.” Rey grimaces. “I couldn’t get out of work. Amilyn had meeting after meeting.”

“It’s okay,” Kaydel smiles brightly at Rey. “I love you anyway.”

The best part of being best friends with Kaydel is that Rey knows without a doubt that Kaydel absolutely means everything she is saying. Kaydel doesn’t mince words. She doesn’t hide from the hard or uncomfortable things. She plows forward until the matter is addressed and resolved. And then she moves on.

“Well hopefully you can join us next time,” Rose offers, sitting on the arm rest of the chair next to Kaydel. “I need someone to try to help me keep up with her.”

Rey laughs, her eyes crinkling in the corners as she shakes her head. “We all know I cannot keep up with her.”

“Please,” Kaydel huffs. “No one can keep up with me. I am an unstoppable machine.”

“You need water,” Rose says, leaning over to kiss Kaydel’s cheek. “I’m going to get you water.”

Kaydel watches Rose as she gets up and walks into the kitchen. Rey hates the tiny bit of jealousy that fills her stomach. Kaydel’s whole face is lit up, her cheeks are flushed and her eyes are soft and warm and full of love. 

Rey wants that. 

She just doesn’t have time for that. 

Relationships had never been something Rey was particularly good at. In high school, she wasn’t secure enough at home to have time for dating. Planning on whether or not she could go on a date seemed trivial when she had to worry about whether or not she was going to have to switch foster homes if she didn’t prove her worth or caused any problems.

Then in college, Rey had been so focused on keeping her scholarships and her grades, she just didn’t have time. The fact that she had been assigned to be Kaydel’s roommate had been one of her only saving graces for socialization. 

Now, she has her job. She can’t even make it to drinks with two of her best friends. She eats dinner after midnight. 

Dating just isn’t something that is going to fit in her life any time soon.

“You should go to sleep,” Kaydel points out. The concern in her voice becomes apparent as she continues. “You look exhausted. When are you going in tomorrow?”

“6:30?” Rey debates out loud, tilting her head side-to-side as she thinks. “Maybe 7. I need to stop at an ATM, or maybe an actual bank, and I’ll still need to get Amilyn’s coffee and bagel.”

“Why do you need to go to a bank?” Kaydel asks, curling up her lips. “I can’t even think of the last time I went to a bank.”

“I need $22. Exactly.” Rey answers, shrugging. “It’s a… long story and we definitely do not have time for it tonight.”

“Tomorrow then,” Kaydel demands, her eyes narrow and Rey knows that she means business. “Dinner. Even if it’s a late dinner. You can catch me up.”

Rey nods giving Kaydel a tight smile. “Sounds perfect.”

Kaydel returns Rey’s smile before standing up and walking toward the kitchen. Rey leans her head back against the couch, sighing as she closes her laptop. The list of things Rey knows that Amilyn is going to want her to do tomorrow is daunting. Kaydal may have said that it could be a late dinner, but for Kaydel that was 7, maybe 8, not 11 or 12. 

Maybe Rey will be able to sneak off for a little bit though. Grabbing her phone and laptop, Rey heads toward her bedroom, debating going through Amilyn’s calendar to see if she can move anything around to guarantee her an hour or so around dinner to be free.

That’s when she hears Kaydal scream. 

Rey quickly tosses her phone and laptop on her bed before running toward Kaydel’s room. Flinging the door open, Rey’s heart feels like it’s about to beat out of her chest. “What the hell--”

The question dies on Rey’s lips when her brain connects what is happening. Rose is still on one knee and Rey’s not sure she’s ever seen someone look so happy. Until she looks at Kaydel, who is holding her left hand over her heart.

They are getting engaged.

“I said no,” Kaydel blurts, but the smile and happiness in her voice give her away. “I’m just kidding. I said yes. Of course I said yes.”

“You guys are getting married?” Rey asks in a breath. She’s not shocked by the news. Rose and Kaydel have been together for two years and they were both crazy about the other. But it still is forcing Rey to imagine what life is going to be like when Kaydel is Rose’s wife and not her best friend and roommate.

Which is selfish and wrong and Rey knows that, but despite a lot of counseling, Rey is terrified of being left alone again.

She pushes those thoughts to the side. 

Rose and Kaydel are going to get married. Her best friend. She’s going to be happy for them. She is happy for them.

Kaydel walks over to her, holding out the ring. It’s gorgeous and fits Kaydel’s personality perfectly with the medium-sized, princess cut diamond and the white gold color. It’s sharp and fierce.

“I’m so happy for you, Kay,” Rey whispers, pulling her into her arms. “I’m so, so happy for you.”

***

Ben walks into his apartment quietly, careful not to wake Poe up. It's already… fuck it's past two. He undoes his tie before sliding his suit jacket off and beginning to undo his pants to kick them off while he makes his way to the fridge. 

The fridge light is bright in the otherwise dark room. There isn't a lot in the fridge, Ben understands now why Poe was sending him a grocery list worth of texts. 

He grabs a beer, twisting the lid off and tossing the lid in the trash.

"Hey," Poe says, scaring the fuck out of Ben. 

"Shit!" Ben exclaims, slamming the fridge shut. "Jesus, Poe. Make some noise next time."

“I said hey,” Poe laughs. “I don’t know how much more noise you need me to make.”

“What are you even doing up?” Ben grabs two beers from the fridge and walks over to the living room, sitting on the couch across from Poe.

“Couldn’t sleep,” Poe says with a shrug, taking the beer Ben is holding out. “You’re home late.”

“Yeah. Snoke needed me to start on his kid’s science project.”

Poe stares at Ben before shaking his head. “You need to quit your job man.”

“It’s not that bad,” Ben winces at how defensive he sounds. “It’ll be worth it in the end.”

“You’ve been saying that for a while.”

Poe isn’t necessarily wrong. When Ben first took the job with Snoke he imagined that it would only be for six months, maybe a year. 

“Yeah, Ben finally says, nodding in agreement. “I have. The job has its perks though, so I’ll probably stay until something better comes along.”

Poe sighs. “Perks? Like what, working on a twelve year old’s science project until two in the morning?”

“I also made a guy cry for not being able to get a stain out of one of his shirts today,” Ben smiles. “Really helps make me feel good inside.”

“Find a new job,” Poe says, standing up from the chair. “One that doesn’t involve working until 2 am, doing a kid’s homework, and making someone else cry in the same day.”

“Yeah, yeah…” Ben twists his fingers around the bottle in his hand. “We’ll see.”

***

Rey looks down at her phone to check the time. 10:37. She missed dinner with Kaydel and Rose. Not that either of them were surprised when she told them that she hadn’t been able to move enough things around to make it. Rey hates how predictable and unreliable she has become to her friends.

It will eventually be worth it. At least, she hopes that it will be worth it.

She has exactly $22 on her. All in quarters. It might be a little dramatic, but Rey feels justified every time she thinks of the way Ben had mentioned adding interest on to the amount.

Rey sees Ben as soon as she steps off the elevator. He has bright markers covering his desk and a giant poster board in front of him. Logically, she knows that he is probably working on his boss’s kid’s homework, and she is grateful at that moment that Amilyn doesn’t have kids and that those kinds of tasks aren’t even on Rey’s radar.

That doesn’t stop her from teasing him as she walks up to him.

“Making electricity out of lemons?” Rey asks, leaning over the desk a bit to get a look at what he is writing. “How original. I’m sure you’ll get first place with an idea like that.”

Ben turns his head to the slide and glares at her. “You’re late.”

“I was busy.”

“You’ll have to give me a minute to calculate the interest for your… what three hour delay.”

Rey rolls her eyes, reaching into her bag to pull out the bag of coins. Ben stares at the bag for a moment, before looking back at her. Rey smiles, carefully stacking up the quarters until there are twenty two even piles covering his desk. “$22 exactly. You’ll have to sue me for the interest.”

“Quarters?” Ben looks down at the coins on his desk again. His face is annoyingly void of any outrage or shock, but his voice sounds lower than it had been before. “I should sue you for being a nuisance.”

“You didn’t state any terms as to the payment method beyond cash.” Rey’s smile grows as she watches him begin to slide the coins into a drawer. 

“I suppose I made a mistake not clarifying that by cash I meant dollar bills,” Ben admits. “But I also mentioned interest and you had no problem ignoring that, so I’m sure you’d have ignored that part too.”

“Probably,” Rey agrees. “Consider it your good luck that I didn’t have enough pennies to make it work that way.”

“Oh and I’m supposed to believe you had 88 quarters just lying around your place?” Ben finishes clearing off the quarters from his desk and closes the drawer. 

“No, I only had two dollars worth of quarters that I could find. I went to the bank for the other twenty.”

“Of course you did.” Ben laughs, shaking his head. “Next time I’ll be more specific.

Rey drops the empty bag into the garbage can next to her feet. “What makes you think there’ll be a next time?”

“Just a feeling.” Ben turns around in his chair, opening a cabinet door on the desk that ran along the wall behind him. He pulls out a bottle of alcohol. “Drink?”

“I’m still working.”

“It’s past ten,” Ben points out, setting the bottle on his desk. “Have anything better to do right now anyway?”

Rey doesn’t. She really doesn’t. Amilyn is going to be on this phone call for at least another hour and then she will either go home or start reviewing some of the submissions that have been stacking up in her email.

One drink really wouldn’t hurt. Ben’s smiling at her and it’s a little unfair that someone as annoying and frustrating as he has been is also very attractive at the same time.

“I guess not,” Rey says, sitting down in the chair on the other side of Ben’s desk. “But just one drink.”

***

Ben doesn’t say anything as Rey reaches for the bottle, pouring what he is pretty sure is her third drink into her cup. It’s well after midnight at this point, and neither Snoke or Rey’s boss had called for them or needed anything.

It’s nice, talking to Rey. She’s cute and passionate when she talks about her job. Her face is a little flushed from the alcohol. Ben can’t quite remember the last time he just talked to someone that he wasn’t related to or wasn’t Poe.

“Anyways, that’s what I want to do,” Rey continues, and Ben tries to remember what she had been talking about before he got lost in his own thoughts. “I want to write articles that matter. The ones that people read and are inspired to do something because of it.”

“Have you submitted any articles to your boss?” Ben asks.

“No,” Rey holds onto the vowel for a few seconds and shakes her head. “I haven’t, God, I haven’t actually written anything since I graduated. I never have time. Amilyn’s schedule isn’t very forgiving. When I’m not working, I normally just want to sleep. Or to have a conversation with someone who can’t just tell me what to do and expect me to do it. I don’t even know what it is like to have a social life anymore. I think this is the longest conversation I’ve had in months.”

“Same,” Ben gives her a small smile. “I was just thinking that. My days and nights consist of making Snoke’s life easier and doing what he wants. It doesn’t even feel like my life anymore.”

“I can’t believe I’m about to admit this,” Rey squints her eyes at Ben, as if she’s sizing him up. She takes another drink from her cup. “Sometimes I wish Amilyn had a… fuck, I wish she had a life. A boyfriend? More family events or friend events to attend? But she has been avoiding them for reasons I’m not going to even get into, but God, I just imagine all of the things I could do if she were busy doing things that aren’t work.”

“You could go on a date,” Ben responds, tipping his cup toward her.

“A date,” Rey huffs, shaking her head. “I can’t even think of the last time I went on a date. I can’t even make dinner with my roommate to celebrate her engagement.”

Rey looks down at her cup, watching the liquid move around as she swirled the glass. “Engagement,” Rey repeats, eyes wide. “I have no idea what I’m going to do to be able to make it to all of the events. I don’t think Amilyn is going to care that I have an engagement party to go to if it doesn’t fit into her schedule.”

“Snoke is the same way,” Ben taps a finger on the desk. “I missed my parents 30th anniversary a few months ago. I asked for it off and everything. I was almost out the door when Snoke grabbed me and said he needed an analysis on some new proposal he received and his normal analyst wasn’t answering his phone, and he told me to do it.”

“I get it,” Rey nods. “It sucks, but I get it.”

“You’d think we’d be able to do something about it,” Ben points out, his eyebrows knitting while he thinks. “I have access to basically Snoke’s entire life. I’m assuming it’s the same with you and Amilyn?” He pauses and waits for Rey’s response, she nods and he continues. “So in theory we should be able to coordinate their schedules to give us a break?”

Rey tilts her head to the side as she ponders what Ben is saying. “I mean, you’re right. In theory that would work. But I have to be available for all things scheduled that are work related, and Amilyn doesn’t have much of a personal life these days.”

Rey sits up straighter, her eyes widening slightly, a devious smile pulling at her lips. “Ben. The answer is so obvious.”

“The answer?” Ben asks with a small chuckle. 

“To our problem,” Rey says as if it’s obvious. “We Cyrano them. It’s perfect. We know everything about them. We know their schedules, their favorite foods and restaurants. We know what drives them crazy and irritates them. We can do this. And then when they are with each other… we can be free, Ben.”

“I’m not sure I’m really following you here.”

“We set them up.” Rey rolls her eyes. “It’s the perfect plan.”

“You’re drunk,” Ben points out, nodding his head down to the mostly empty bottle between them. “That would never work.”

“You’re wrong,” Rey says with a pointed nod. “But even if you are right, which you are not, because you are wrong, what’s the harm in trying?”

Ben doesn’t say anything for a few minutes. He finishes his drink, setting his empty glass next to Rey’s. 

“Maybe,” Ben concedes, “What’s your plan exactly? I don’t know that Snoke and Amilyn have ever even met and they’ve worked in the same building for years.”

“Leave it to me,” Rey’s grin is big and wide. “I’ll come up with something.”

“I’m not saying I’m agreeing to do this,” Ben clarifies, watching as Rey stands up and stretches, her shirt pulling up slightly as she raised her arms. 

“I know,” Rey says, grabbing her bag. “But you will. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Rey places her hand on his shoulder and squeezes it gently before she walks past him and then she’s gone. 

Ben opens the drawer that they shoved the change into and he smiles to himself. He’s not quite sure what he’s getting himself into, but he does know that if Rey really does come up with an idea to set their bosses up, which is probably a really terrible idea, he’s not sure he’s going to be able to tell her no. 

***

Rey brings Ben coffee the next morning. She assumes he likes it black with too much sweetener, and when he smiles after his first drink Rey feels a little smug for being able to figure it out. 

“Let’s go for a walk.” Rey says, grabbing his free hand and tugging on it. “I have a plan.”

Ben let’s her pull at his hand and stands up from his desk. “I only have twenty minutes before Snoke’s meeting ends.”

“Perfect.” Rey drops his hand, blushing slightly as she walks in front of him toward the elevator. “Just enough time to get some steps added to Amilyn’s watch and to fill you in on my absolute amazing plan that you are definitely going to be impressed by and will agree to.”

Ben laughs, smiling as he gets into the elevator and stands next to Rey. “We’ll see.”

The sun is bright and the air is already warm when they step outside. Rey has to walk a little bit faster than normal to keep up with Ben’s long strides. 

“So, tell me about this plan that is apparently so wonderful that you’re absolutely sure I’ll agree to it.”

“Okay, so it’s the same plan as last night,” Rey admits, taking a drink of her tea. “But I’ve thought about it more and I know that we can do this.”

Ben sighs, shaking his head. “I don’t know, Rey. We can’t just magically make our bosses like each other.”

“Sure we can,” Rey argues. “We get them to meet. Then we listen to them and their cues and go from there. That’s the beauty of this, Ben, we will know if things are going a little wrong and can adjust the plan accordingly.”

Ben stops walking and looks down at her. “You really think this will work?”

“I do.”

“How do you propose we get them to meet?” Ben shakes his head as he asks the question and Rey can see the lingering doubt on his face.

“I… I haven’t quite figured that part out yet,” Rey responds, quickly holding her hand up as Ben opens his mouth, she assumes to argue with her. “But I’ve seen a lot of romantic comedies and I can figure this out. Just give me a minute.”

They start walking again, back toward the building. Rey finishes her tea and tosses it into a garbage can. 

“I’ve got it!” Rey exclaims, as they step into the elevator. “We just need to get them in a small space, stuck for a few minutes, so that they have to talk to one another.”

“And how do you think we will pull that off?” 

Rey shakes her head, glaring at him. “Why do I have to figure out all the details?”

“This is your crazy plan,” Ben points out, pressing the button for his floor, and then Rey’s. “I’m not even sure I’m fully on board.”

“You are,” Rey smiles. “So, help with some of the details already. Are there any rooms that lock from the outside? Maybe we can ask maintenance? Do you think they’d think that was weird?”

Ben laughs, tipping his head back against the elevator wall. 

“Fuck,” he mutters under his breath. “I hate that I have an idea. The elevator. If we can get them both in the elevator, we can get Creepy Threepio to stop it.”

“Creepy Threepio?” Rey asks, scrunching her nose up. “Who is Creepy Threepio?”

“He works in maintenance,” Ben laughs. “He’s, well, he’s a bit creepy. But I think he’d do it. I’ll ask him today and let you know what he says.”

“What did I tell you?” Rey beams at him as the doors to the elevator open. “You’re totally on board.”

“I have a bad feeling about this,” Ben pinches the bridge of his nose. “But I’m willing to give it a shot.” 

Ben steps out of the elevator while holding his hand out to stop the doors from closing. “Hand me your phone so I can give you my number.”

Rey pulls her phone from her back jean pocket and unlocks it before handing it over to him. She watches as he puts in his number and hands the phone back to her.

“I’ll text you the details later,” he says, dropping his arm and the doors start to close. “I can’t believe I’m agreeing to this.”

The doors close and Rey grins sliding her phone back into her jeans. She can’t believe he agreed either.


	2. Chapter Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter count went up! I hope you all enjoy this chapter. It has a few of my favorite moments in it! If you do enjoy it, let me know. Comments are the fuel I need in life.

Creepy Threepio agrees and Ben sends Rey a message to coordinate with her on getting Amilyn and Snoke in the elevator at the same time and when to meet Ben in the maintenance room in the basement of the building.

Everything goes completely and horribly wrong. Which really doesn’t surprise Ben, he knew that the plan was a long shot. But it does surprise him at just how wrong everything does go.

Rey is standing next to him, her jaw hanging open as she watches the disaster that is happening on the screen. Creepy Threepio looks overly thrilled by the scene in the elevator. Which with everything Ben has heard about him through the building grapevine, it also doesn’t surprise him.

To Rey’s credit, they did get Amilyn and Snoke in the same elevator. Everything went well for about ten seconds. Ben would give them that. For ten seconds their plan went absolutely wonderfully.

Then there was a flower delivery man that stepped into the elevator. Then Threepio stopped the elevator. Then Amilyn and Snoke fought and fought about what to do, cancelling and recalling the emergency button, arguing about who had cell service and just calling the fire department. 

All of which was, quite frankly, bad enough.

And that was before the delivery guy really started to panic about being stuck in an elevator and took his clothes off and stood naked in front of Amilyn and Snoke.

Obviously, the situation took many turns for the worse.

But then he started urinating. 

That’s what they are watching now. The aftermath of this man urinating in a small enclosed space with their bosses. Snoke is losing his shit, and if it wasn’t going to become Ben’s problem when those doors opened, he would find it a bit amusing to see him so out of sorts.

Amilyn handles it better than Snoke. She’s trying to comfort the man while shooting daggers at Snoke as she rambles on about stress incontinence and how it’s a perfectly normal thing.

“Open the doors, Threepio,” Rey orders, her face paling as she keeps looking at the monitor. “Open the fucking doors. We have to get them out of there.”

“I told you this was a bad idea,” Ben says, holding his hands up when she looks over to him and glares. “I’m just saying.”

Rey doesn’t say anything else, just keeps her eyes on the screen, unable to tear her attention away from the trainwreck that is still occurring as Threepio takes his time to get the elevator up and running and the doors open.

Finally, the doors open and Ben watches as Amilyn and Snoke fight each other to get out of the elevator first, screaming at each other about their behavior.

“Yeah,” Ben sighs, watching as both Amilyn and Snoke walk off the screen. “Real good first meeting. I definitely think this is the meet up story they are going to tell at their wedding.”

Rey bites her bottom lip, one hand gripping the edge of the desk in front of her. “We’ll do better next time.”

“Next time?” Ben rolls his eyes. “Rey, there is not going to be a next time. Did you not just see what a fucking disaster that was? Someone peed in front of them.”

“Yes,” Rey answers, with a small nod. “That is what just happened. So, we can’t really do worse next time. We’ve got nowhere to go but up from here.”

Ben stares at Rey, trying to figure out how exactly she is taking what just occurred to be anything but a certifiable loss. “There is no way. I’m not doing this again.”

Rey turns her attention to Threepio, placing a hand on his shoulder. “Thanks for your help.”

“Thank you,” Threepio exclaims, a wide grin spread over his face. His eyes are crinkled at the corners. “This is the greatest thing I’ve ever done.”

Rey gives a nervous chuckle before pointing down at the small plant she had brought for him. “Don’t forget to water this guy at least once a day. Okay?”

Ben follows Rey out of the room. They both look at the elevator for a second, before heading toward the doors for the staircase. 

“I’ll come up with another plan tonight,” Rey says as they start the walk up to their floors. “This was a rash plan. We need to pay more attention to the details and the variables.”

“Rey, I really don’t know.” Ben pulls his phone out of his pocket as it starts beeping. He holds his phone up for Rey to see. “Snoke is losing his mind. Today is going to be awful and we probably deserve that for trying to mess with our bosses’ love lives.”

“Don’t,” Rey started, before grimacing as her own phone started going off. “Don’t back out on this yet. One more shot. Just one more.”

Ben pauses at the landing between the floors, starting to read through the onslaught of messages from Snoke. One of them even suggests that he needs to find and fire the delivery guy. As if that is something in Ben’s power.

He isn’t sure what makes him agree. He isn’t planning on it. He is planning on telling her no. That this was fun, or, well, fun wasn’t really the right word for it. But it was something. A nice break to his usual days.

Her eyes are hopeful though as she whispers please and holds his gaze.

He’s going to tell her no. Absolutely no way in hell is he doing this again.

And yet, he says, “Okay. Fine. Just one more.”

***

“Ben,” Leia’s voice is demanding and clearly irritated over the phone. “You were supposed to be at the restaurant 45 minutes ago.”

“I know, Mom.” Ben sighs, spreading his legs out wider to stop anyone from trying to sit in the two seats next to him. “Snoke is running late. As soon as he gets here, I should have about two hours and I’ll head straight to the restaurant.”

“This is ridiculous.” Leia mutters. Ben can hear ice clink against her glass in the background. “I don’t know why you won’t just let me or Luke make a few calls so you can quit.”

“I don’t want to get into this again.” Ben runs his hand over his chin. “I want to get my jobs on my own. It’s important to me.”

“You’ve been saying that since you graduated,” Leia points out and Ben hates how he knows that she has a point. “How long are you going to put yourself through this? You're currently holding seats for someone that can’t even be bothered to be at his kid’s show on time. You work an impossible number of hours every week. Your pay is a joke. You haven’t made it home for dinner in months. There’s only about a ten percent chance I’m actually going to see you today, Ben. We both know it.”

Ben tilts his head back, briefly closing his eyes as Leia brings up with the same arguments she uses every time they have this conversation. Not that they aren’t good arguments. Everything she is saying is true. It just doesn’t change anything.

“You’re wasting your potential, Ben,” Leia adds at the end. Which is new. She hasn’t pulled that card before. “You could be doing so much more and you are just wasting it waiting for Snoke to open up doors for you that you don’t need him to open.”

Ben’s just about to respond when he hears Snoke’s voice in the auditorium. Ben sits up straight, turning his head to see him practically pushing people out of his way to make it to the front where Ben is waiting. 

“I’ve got to go, Mom,” Ben says, holding his free hand up for Snoke to see. “I love you.”

“Ben—”

Ben hangs up the phone.

***

Rey’s spread out across her bed. She has her cell phone upside down and left on the shelf by her door. It’s 2 am and she is decidedly not going to look at her phone again until at least 6 am when she is getting ready for work.

She pops another piece of popcorn in her mouth as she watches another video of a sports event. This time it’s a basketball game and she’s zoning out as she can hear the music change to some cheesy song about kisses and the video focuses on people sitting next to each other for the kiss cam.

Kiss cam.

It’s perfect. Absolutely perfect. It’s so much better than the trapped in the elevator idea they had gone with the first time. 

Rey gets out of bed and grabs her phone. She’s about to text Ben her great idea when she hears Kaydel come in the front door. 

Rey sets her phone back down and looks over at the “Will you be my maid of honor?” sign that Rey had found on her bed this morning. She picks it up off her dresser and walks out to tell Kaydel yes.

She’s going to be the best maid of honor for her. She just needs this plan with Ben to work out to have the time for that to happen.

***

“Okay, we didn’t do so great last time,” Rey says, tapping her fingers against Ben’s desk as she talks. “But our luck is going to change. This plan is going to blow your mind.”

Ben smiles despite his best efforts not to. Her excitement is contagious. It’s quickly becoming one of Ben’s favorite things about Rey. The positive spin and twists she can put on most situations is so different from how Ben sees things. It’s nice to have around.

“We’ll see,” Ben teases. “Are you going to tell me this great plan?”

“When I feel like I have your full attention.” Rey leans forward over his desk, to look at the list he is writing. “Lemons? Wire? Still working on this?”

Ben drops his pen on top of the list before rubbing his hand at the back of his neck. “Snoke’s kid needs the best science project for the science fair. Obviously.”

“Ah,” Rey says with understanding. “And you are doing… lemons to electricity? Very fancy. Definitely the best.”

“I hate my job.” Ben groans, shaking his head. “I’m twenty-eight, and I’m still an assistant. This is… not where I thought I’d be in life by now. Googling how to do a stupid middle school science fair project.”

“So, let’s make our jobs a little bit better by getting at least a slight increase in personal time added to our days.” Rey beams at him, pulling two tickets out of her jacket. “These are ours. I’m assuming you can get Snoke a seat at the next Yankees game?”

“Yeah.” Ben shoots her a curious look. “I can do that. What’s your plan exactly?”

“You’ll see.”

***

Ben’s been standing at the front of the Yankee Stadium for almost thirty minutes waiting for Rey to show up. The game is going to start soon and he hasn’t heard from her since she sent him a location pin of where to meet her before the game.

He’s just about to call her when he sees her running across the street toward him. His eyes widen slightly as he takes in her appearance. She is dressed in Yankee’s gear from head to toe. She looks absolutely ridiculous… and a little bit adorable.

“What the fuck are you wearing?” She asks, slowly moving her eyes up and down his body. 

Ben glances down at the suit he had on. He doesn’t see anything wrong with what he is wearing.

“A suit?” He responds, lifting one of his shoulders up in a small shrug. “I came straight from the office.”

“No one wears a suit to a Yankees game, Ben.” Rey rolls her eyes, but she’s smiling and shaking her head just enough that a piece of her hair falls into her face. 

Ben doesn’t think and lifts his hand up to brush the hair back and tuck it behind her ear.

“Thanks,” Rey blushes as Ben pulls his hand back from her face. She glances down away from Ben for a moment, but Ben is almost sure he sees her lips twitch up in a smile.

“You’re late,” Ben points out, trying to distract himself from the way his heart is beating faster when she looks back up at him and her cheeks are still slightly pink. They start walking toward the line to go through security. “I’ve been waiting forever.”

“Forever?” Rey scoffs. “You’re such a drama queen. I had to get supplies.” She waves the foam finger in her hand as an example. “I over dicked around.”

“You what?” Ben laughs.

“You know. I over dicked around.” Rey says the phrase again as if it is a common expression. “I got down here early to get everything set up with the kiss cam. And then I saw this cute shirt,” she points at the button up jersey shirt she is wearing. “Then I figured you’d need a foam finger to show your team spirit, which clearly I was right about, Mr. I-wear-a-suit-to-a-baseball-game.”

She pauses as they get closer to the front of the line, pulling the tickets out of her bag. 

“I lost track of time.” She continues, giving him an apologetic look. “I still can’t believe you are wearing a suit.”

“I didn’t realize there was a dress code for a baseball game.”

“Comfort,” Rey teases as she hands her tickets, before grabbing on to Ben’s hand and pulling him through the crowd. “You should be comfortable at a baseball game.”

“Maybe I find suits to be comfortable.”

“You’re so weird.” Rey says, letting go of his hand as the crowd around them thins. Without much thought, Ben reaches forward to grab onto her hand again. He pauses just before his fingers would brush against hers, remembering that he has no reason to hold Rey's hand. He just wants to. His hand falls back to his side as he follows Rey as she starts heading up the stairs to their seats. 

***

“You got everything set up?” Ben asks, tilting the popcorn bag that he had grabbed during the third inning toward Rey. 

Rey assumed when he left he needed a little bit of a break from the group of teenagers that had bombarded him with questions when they sat down. Rey introduced each of the kids to him, and she introduced Yoda, the sweet old man who ran the group home that the kids were placed in. 

“Yep,” Rey answers, throwing a piece of popcorn into her mouth as she smiles at Ben. “I think I can sort of see them?” She adds, squinting her eyes down toward where Snoke and Amilyn are sitting next to each other.

Ben had taken off his suit jacket and his tie after one of the teenage girls sitting next to them had joined Rey in making fun of him for looking so formal. He had also rolled his sleeves up to just below his elbow. Between that particular look and the way his hair softly moved with the gentle breeze, Rey is fairly distracted by how attractive she finds him.

“Me too,” Ben says. “They don’t look like they are yelling at each other.”

“Very promising.”

“It’s definitely a step up from the elevator incident,” Ben teases, bumping his shoulder against Rey’s. “I’ll give you that.”

“I told you we could do better,” Rey reminds him. “I have a good feeling about this.”

Rey watches the game, groaning when the umpire makes a bad call with the rest of the crowd. The atmosphere and sense of belonging in a crowd that came along with being at a live sporting event has always been one of Rey’s favorite feelings. She fell in love with it during her first minor league hockey game that she went to when she was 10. She loves watching the kids next to her fall in love with the same feeling.

“They aren’t even watching the game,” Rey complains, glancing over at Ben who seems into the game at least. “I know we set them up to come to the game, but with seats like that, I would be falling over myself.”

Ben looks off to the side for a few seconds before he responds. "I’ve had seats like that before," he says and he sounds almost ashamed to admit it to Rey. "I didn't appreciate them then."

"That's okay." Rey shoves her shoulder up against his, softly laughing. "I bet you will next time."

Ben looks like he is about to respond when Kiss Me starts to play over the speakers. Rey claps her hands excitedly before hitting one of her hands on Ben's knee.

"It's time!" Rey exclaims, her eyes glued on the jumbo screen, watching as the first couple gets picked out.

The first couple laughs before leaning across their seats for a brief kiss. The next pair does the same thing.

Rey loves watching the people blush, the quick glance to the other person making sure that this is okay, the shy smiles on their faces as they lean in for the kiss.

Her heart plummets to her stomach when she sees her face on the screen. 

This was not supposed to happen. She's going to kill Artoo. Rey clearly and explicitly explained to him that she needed the camera on Amilyn. She gave him the exact seat. 

Ben brushes his finger over her elbow. "Rey?" He asks.

Rey squints her eyes at Amilyn and Snoke's seats. They both seem entranced by their phones still. But Rey can't guarantee that they will remain focused on their phones and not on the giant screen with her and Ben's face.

They could get caught, Rey realizes, if the focus stays on them and Amilyn or Snoke look up from their phone.

They can't get caught.

So Rey turns her head, leaning closer toward Ben and kisses him.

He's surprised at first. At least Rey hopes the way Ben freezes against her at first is from surprise, but then he seems to melt into her, responding with passion she isn't expecting, one hand tilting her head to angle her better against his lips while the other brushes against the hair at the nape of her neck.

Objectively it's a good kiss. Ben's lips are soft and move against hers with ease. Rey's stomach swoops as Ben's mouth opens slightly. It would be easy to get lost in the way Ben kisses her.

There's wolf whistling and hollering coming from the kids around them when they pull away.

Rey stares at Ben for a moment after they separate. Her eyes are wide and there's a blush creeping up his neck and Rey hopes that her face isn't too red, but she can feel the heat on her cheeks.

She looks away, straightens her shoulders and sees the camera focus on Amilyn and Snoke. 

They are still lost in their phones and Rey lets out a sigh of relief because they missed the kiss. She's certain that they didn't see her and Ben. Their plan can still work. 

Rey focuses her attention on joining the crowd in cheering, trying to capture the attention of Amilyn and Snoke. It's a good distraction from the way her lips are still tingling from the kiss. From the way her thoughts want to drift away to imagine kissing Ben again.

Their bosses finally, finally, look up when the man behind them taps them on the shoulder. 

Amilyn looks up at the screen and then over at Snoke. She laughs before shaking her head and looking back at her phone.

Snoke doesn't seem to understand what is going on.

“Kiss! Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!” Rey joins the crowd in chanting, smiling as Ben joins in as well.

They don’t.

Rey joins the crowd in booing when the camera moves away from Snoke and Amilyn and onto another pair of people. 

“Fuck,” Rey mutters under her breath. She scrunches her nose up and turns her head to look at Ben. “Well, that’s two of my ideas that have completely failed. My bad luck at romance appears to be contagious.”

“We’ll come up with something,” Ben says, giving Rey a small smile. “Maybe I’ll come up with the next idea.”

“I don’t know Ben.” Rey shakes her head. “Maybe you were right to begin with. This is crazy. I’ll just have to find a way to tell Kaydel that there’s no way I can guarantee being able to do all of the things she is going to want me to do as her maid of honor. Or tell Amilyn that I’m going to be slightly less available to her for the next few months. Neither of which are conversations I actually want to have, but I’m an adult and I can--”

“Rey,” Ben interrupts her, placing one of his hands on her knee. He points at the screen with his other hand. “They went back to Amilyn and Snoke.”

“What?” Rey asks, turning her attention to the screen. Sure enough, Amilyn and Snoke are the focus on the screen, a glittery pink heart framing their faces. 

The crowd is even louder this time chanting for them to kiss. The music changes to Kiss the Girl. It’s easy to get lost in the atmosphere.

Amilyn is blushing and Snoke still seems unsure of what to do as he keeps his eyes off the screen. Rey notices when he looks over at Amilyn though, as if he’s considering just going for it. 

Ben is chanting loudly next to her, clapping his hands together to accentuate the words. Rey giggles as she starts clapping in time with him. 

Amilyn bites her lip and leans over the armrest separating her seat from Snoke’s. Rey grabs onto Ben’s hand, shaking it in excitement as she watches Amilyn closes the distance between her and Snoke and…

And kisses him on the cheek.

Rey groans, letting go of Ben’s hand. “So close,” she says, tilting her head back. “So close.”

The crowd seems to be just as outraged as Rey feels, judging by the sounds that are echoing in the stadium.

“It’s progress?” Ben offers. “This is still going better than the elevator.”

Rey snorts. It’s strange to hear Ben being the positive one. She appreciates him trying, but she recognizes that he is only saying these things to try to make her feel better. Not because he actually believes that this plan is going to go anywhere. 

Rey’s not sure if her disappointment is just because this means she’s going to have to let her best friend down or risk her job… or if she’s going to miss having a reason to talk to Ben.

Rey sits up, watching as another couple kisses on the screen. 

“It’s basically the law that you kiss when the kiss cam is on you.” Rey complains, tossing her hands up in front of her face. “I’ve been to so many games Ben, so many, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone not kiss. This should have worked.”

“One last time, folks,” the announcer’s voice rings out across the stadium as the camera once again focuses on Amilyn and Snoke. “Why don’t you just kiss the girl?”

Amilyn rolls her eyes, but Rey catches the way her chest shakes slightly from laughing, the way her eyes crinkle at the sides in humor. 

The crowd is far too invested in this kiss happening, Rey decides, as she and Ben stand up and continue chanting for the kiss to happen.

And it does.

Finally, Snoke places his hand on the side of Amilyn’s face and they kiss.

Rey cheers, throwing her arms up in the air in victory. Ben grabs onto her waist and pulls her into his side. 

“We did it!” He exclaims, wrapping his arms around her and picking her up from the ground.

Rey squeals, burying her head into the crook of his neck. She pulls back when he puts her back down, smiling widely up at him. “I told you I had a good feeling about this.”

Ben matches her grin, shaking his head. “Right,” he teases, the word almost inaudible as he laughs. “You had zero doubts this entire time.”

“Not a single one.” Rey drops her gaze to Ben’s lips, and she wants to kiss him again. To stand on her tiptoes and press her lips against his. She looks away, feeling the way her neck is heating up. Scratching at her neck, Rey sits back down and gives Ben one last, small smile. 

“Now what?” Ben asks, sitting down.

Rey keeps her eyes forward on the game that is just starting to resume. 

“Now… now we enjoy this small win,” Rey says after a few minutes, turning her head to look at Ben. He looks more relaxed in that moment than he has all day. “Then you get to come up with some ideas for phase two.”

***

The Yankees win. Amilyn and Snoke kissed. 

Rey kissed him.

For a plan Ben had been so hesitant to agree to, it has so far been working in his favor.

Rey tugs on his hand as they head out of the stadium. He likes the way Rey keeps grabbing his hand, holding it when they walk. He likes the way her hand fits in his. 

He’s starting to think that he might just like her. 

Rey is practically beaming with glee between the win and her plan working. She’s chattering at about a million miles a minute about the game and stats that he finds oddly impressive that she has memorized. He doesn’t know enough about baseball or the Yankees really to follow half of what she says, but her joy is contagious. 

Ben can’t remember the last time he smiled this much. 

Rey’s phone beeps and she drops his hand to reach for it. Ben’s phone goes off a few seconds later.

“Oh my god,” Rey whispers, stopping completely once they are just outside of the stadium. “It worked. Ben, it actually worked.”

Ben nods, rereading the message on his phone. “Snoke isn’t coming back into the office for the rest of the day.”

“Neither is Amilyn,” Rey grabs onto his hand again, slightly swinging their arms together. “I don’t have to go back into the office.”

“Neither do I.”

Ben is a bit amazed that this actually worked. That somehow Amilyn and Snoke were off together and because of it he and Rey both are now free for the rest of the day.

“So what are you going to do with all of this free time?” Ben asks as they make their way toward the subway.

“I was thinking…” Rey’s sentence trails off and she bites at her bottom lip. She looks nervous. “I was thinking maybe we could go get drinks? Or dinner? You know, to celebrate the win?”

“Yeah,” Ben quickly responds before Rey is fully finished talking. “I would love to do that. Maybe I could even convince you to help me come up with some ideas for phase two?”

“Absolutely not,” Rey shakes her head. “But you can try.”

***

“Do you think we’ll even need a phase two?” Ben asks, taking a drink from the beer bottle in his hand. “I mean, maybe we should just let nature take over from her?”

“Nature?” Rey sputters, staring at Ben as if he’s grown two heads. “Ben, we need this relationship to work out for at least the next 3 months. It took two well thought out plans to get them to this point, and you think nature can just take over from here?”

“Well thought out plans?” Ben mocks. “That is one way of describing your plans I’m sure.”

“Hey,” Rey swats at his hand, laughing as he pulls it away from her. “My plans ended up working so no complaining about them. Besides, we’ve been here for,” Rey glances down at her phone, “almost two hours, and you have provided zero plans for phase two.”

“That’s because I’m still not convinced that we need a phase two.”

“We need a phase two,” Rey states as if her opinion is fact. Because it absolutely is what they need and Ben just needs to get on the same page. “So you better start thinking of one.”

Rey finishes her drink, running a finger across the rim of the glass. “I told Kaydel I’d meet her soon.”

Ben nods, finishing his beer. “This was nice.”

Nice might be an understatement. Even if they still don’t have a plan for what they are going to do about Snoke and Amilyn next… just talking with Ben had been great.

She knows more about him now, about his past, and his family. The reasons why he won’t let his family help him out. It’s hard for Rey to imagine having a family that wants to help and turning them away. But she can sort of see where he is coming from, it’s an almost foreign concept to her.

Getting to know Ben is nice. Talking to Ben is nice. Hearing him laugh and smile and watching the way his eyes lit up when he gets excited is more than nice. It’s doing nothing to stop her growing desire to kiss him again.

She probably needs to figure out what she is going to do about that problem later.

“It was,” Rey agrees, watching as Ben smiles. She wonders if he has any idea just how gorgeous he looks when he smiles. She wishes she was just a little more brave, or a little more drunk, to tell him. “Even if you have presented no plans. Or apparently even thought about a plan more than coming up with a bad argument about how we don’t need a plan.”

“I’ll come up with a plan,” Ben laughs when Rey narrows her eyes in disbelief. “Have some faith in me.”

“Okay,” Rey concedes, grabbing her phone from the table before standing up. “But just some.”

“Have fun with Kaydel,” Ben says, standing as well. “Enjoy your time with her.”

“I will.” Rey pausing, glancing away from Ben for a moment, debating her next move. Ben’s arms are around her before she has much time to consider anything, pulling her into a hug.

Rey grins as she wraps her arms around him. She lingers when he pulls away, stretching up to press her lips against his cheek. 

“Good night, Ben.” Her voice is light and soft as she takes a step back. “I expect at least three options tomorrow morning.”

Rey can still hear him laughing when she exits the bar.

***

“Wait, wait, wait,” Kaydel starts, waving her hands around. Rey grabs onto Kaydel’s arm, pulling her away from a larger crack in the sidewalk. “You and the guy who you said was a—and I am quoting—‘giant fucking asshole’ kissed today?”

Rey rolls her eyes. That would be the part of the story Kaydel would focus on. “We were on the kiss cam.” Rey says as if it’s a complete and full explanation. “And Ben isn’t an asshole. I mean, okay, he can be an asshole. But he isn’t always an asshole. He can actually be kind of… sweet sometimes?”

“Oh my god,” Kaydel grins, clapping her hands together excitedly. Kaydel always talks with her entire body, but it’s more pronounced and with larger movements when she has been drinking. “You like him.”

Rey sighs, pressing the button for the crosswalk. “That’s rather irrelevant,” Rey says as they start crossing the street. “I don’t even know if it’s true. Can’t we just focus on the fact that I got off work at a reasonable time today and that I came up with this evil genius plan to make sure I have time to perform my maid of honor duties?”

“Absolutely not.” Kaydel rolls her eyes. “We are one hundred precent focusing on the fact that you kissed a hot guy and that you can’t stop blushing every time you mention him.”

“I’ve been, I’ve been drinking,” Rey tries to come up for another explanation for her blushing. Because she is blushing. She knows that she can’t stop blushing whenever she thinks about Ben and it’s a little ridiculous. She feels like a schoolgirl with her first crush. “My face always gets a little bit red when I’ve been drinking.”

Kaydel stops in the middle of the sidewalk. Rey almost runs into her at the same time that Kaydel turns around. Kaydel’s eyes are narrow and pointed, but there’s no heat in the glare that she is giving Rey. Kaydel places her hands on Rey’s shoulders and stares at Rey for a few moments before she finally says, “You’re an absolute idiot.”

“Real nice, Kay,” Rey complains. “I’m really feeling bathed in your love right now.”

“You should always feel bathed in love when you are around me.” Kaydel sways slightly, increasing the weight pressing down on Rey’s shoulders. “But that doesn’t make you any less of an idiot.”

Rey huffs, blowing a stray piece of her hair out of her eyes. “Why don’t we just go home? You can tell me more about what an idiot I am while we drink some water.”

Kaydel shrugs, turning around and looping her arm through Rey’s as she starts walking again. “I’ve got nothing else besides you’re an idiot. But maybe you can tell me more about this plan and more about Ben. I think I’ll like him.”

***

“Princess?” Han yells from the front door. He is leaning against the open door and the smug smile on his face is maddening. It only grows the longer Ben just stares at him. “Our son is here.”

“What?” Ben can hear Leia ask from in the house. He can practically see her shocked face with the surprise he can hear in her voice. He hates that showing up unannounced is such a rare thing that he deserves this kind of reaction from his parents.

“Are you busy?” Ben asks, stepping forward to go into the house. Han moves just enough for Ben to squeeze by him. “I can always leave if you guys had plans.”

Leia walks toward him and slightly smacks his arm before wrapping her arms around him.

“I was just about to kick your dad’s ass at cards,” Leia says, pulling back. “You can help.”

Han pats Ben on the back as he walks toward the family room.

“Do you need money?” Leia questions, her eyes narrowing as they all sat down. “Are you finally going to let us help you?”

“No, Mom.” Ben tries to keep the irritation out of his voice, but he knows he isn’t very successful with the look Leia is giving him. “I don’t need money. I’m doing just fine. And my job is getting better. As I assumed you could tell, since I’m here visiting you.”

Leia purses her lips giving an almost imperceptible shake to her head. “One day of getting off at a reasonable time does not make the situation any better Ben. Especially when it’s a situation that you don’t even have to be in.”

“How’d you end up getting off so early anyway?” Han asks, giving Leia a look that Ben knows is him telling her to stop pushing. He shuffles the cards in his lap. “I don’t think that in the entire time you’ve been there you’ve gotten off before 10 without a lot of prearrangement.”

“I got off at 6.” Ben is a little too proud in the way he says it, as if getting off at a reasonable time is some kind of accomplishment Leia is going to want to hang on the wall. “So I’d say things are going much better.”

“Off at 6?” Han starts dealing out the cards. “And what did you do for the first few hours of your freedom?”

“I, uh, I went out for drinks with a…” Ben pauses, pretends that he is looking at his cards and contemplating his move. Maybe he should have just gone home and hung out with Poe. Poe was less likely than his parents to ask questions. Most of the time. “A friend. I went out for drinks with a friend.”

“A friend?” Leia repeats, her tone far too knowing. “Does this friend have a name? Do we know him?”

“Her,” Ben corrects, rolling his eyes at Leia’s inability to be subtle. “And her name is Rey. You don’t know her.”

“How did you two meet?” Leia places two cards face down in front of her without appearing to glance at them as she keeps her eyes on Ben.

Ben keeps his eyes on his cards, debating the best way to phrase the way he and Rey had met. He doesn’t quite think his mom will be too thrilled with the truth. That he had pretty much stolen Rey’s food delivery and then asked for her to pay him back with interest the next day.

Even he was aware that he was kind of an asshole in that story.

Somehow explaining that she’s an assistant in the same building as him who came up with an idea to set their bosses up so that they can have more free time doesn’t seem much better.

He decides on somewhere in the middle.

“She’s an assistant who works in the same building. We met when we both were trying to get dinner for our bosses late one night.” 

“Uh huh,” Leia hums and Ben hates that Leia just knows that there is more to the story than he is telling. It’s always frustrated him the way Leia can pinpoint every time he tries holding something back from her. “And you two are bonding over work?”

Ben glances at Han, trying to signal for him to jump in and change the subject. Han just smirks and shakes his head. 

Not that Ben can blame him.

“Poe is really excited about your birthday party,” Ben says instead of answering the question, trying to change the subject on his own. “Thanks for sending him an invite directly. Instead of just having him tag along with me.”

“Well, I wanted to make sure that he knew he was welcome whether or not you could make it,” Leia tilts her head to the side. “With your schedule it’s not that it’s a guarantee that you’ll be there.”

“I’ll be there,” Ben sighs. “I promise I will be there.”

“Good,” Leia grins. “And you should bring Rey. If you’d like. We always love meeting your friends.”

“Always,” Han adds, tossing a card onto the table. “I’m sure it would make your mom’s birthday to meet your new friend.”

“You both know that I’m 28 years old right?” Ben asks, glancing back and forth between the two of them. “And that there is no way I’m going to bring Rey, who I’ve known for less than two weeks, to Mom’s birthday lunch. I would consider telling Poe he isn’t allowed to come, but I’m pretty sure you’ve both run through all of my embarrassing stories with him already.”

“I’m sure I could come up with a few more,” Leia teases. ‘And this is exactly why I sent Poe his own invite.”

Ben runs a hand through his hair. “Can we just play cards? Go back to you giving me shit about my job?”

“Sure kid,” Han agrees. “But we really are looking forward to hearing more about Rey.”

***

“Okay, what about this spot?” Rey asks, turning her phone toward Kaydel so she can see the picture she has pulled up. It’s a gorgeous winery just outside of the city. The pictures show the grassy hills, with the perfectly planted flowers, and there is a little stage that could be used for a DJ or a band. 

Kaydel crinkles her nose and shakes her head. “It’s too far away. I don’t want to have to leave the city for my engagement party.”

Rey nods, pulling her phone back and resumes scrolling through the different results of different venue ideas. “Well, what have you found over there?”

“This place looks nice,” Kaydel hands her phone over. “The rooftop is definitely a good size, and it has a bar already set up. I think this might be the place. And they have availability on most of the nights Rose isn’t scheduled to be on call at the hospital.”

Rey looks through the pictures. It’s perfect. 

“I say book it then.” Rey gives the phone back to Kaydel. “And let me know what night you guys end up picking so I can make sure I can coordinate to have it off.”

“Maybe you’ll bring Ben,” Kaydel teases, rolling over onto her side on the couch. “I think I’d like to meet him.”

“Maybe I’ll bring one of the guys from that new dating app you signed me up for.” Rey shakes her phone in the air. 

“Sure, you could do that.” Kaydel’s face is inquisitive as she continues. “Have you had any good matches?”

“No.” Rey sighs, tossing her phone onto her lap. “I have had zero good matches. I’m starting to think there’s no hope for me. I’ve looked through hundreds of matches, and just, nothing?”

Rey decidedly does not mention that part of the problem is that she has been comparing every match to Ben. It’s not a fair comparison. Not everyone can be tall and handsome and have annoyingly nice hair. 

And it’s hard to get an idea if someone is insufferable in an endearing way in the few sentences that are posted in the bios she reads. 

The truth is that it’s hard to get any sense of who a person is on a dating profile and it’s one of the main reasons Rey is pretty sure she is never going to have luck finding a date on one.

“So ask Ben,” Kaydel says as if it’s the most logical decision. “I’d like to meet the guy that’s helping make sure my best friend gets to attend all of the important things for my wedding. And he makes you smile, Rey. You should invite him.”

“Maybe,” Rey concedes, biting down on her bottom lip as she stands. “I’ll think about it. But it’s late and I’m going to bed. I love you, good night.”

Rey tries not to think too much about how Kaydel might have a point as she gets into bed. Ben does make her smile. A lot. He also makes her laugh. And, yeah, he can be a little infuriating sometimes, but if she’s being honest, she kind of likes that about him. There was also the kiss at the game. 

It was a good kiss. 

One Rey doesn’t mind thinking about while she falls asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come say hi to me on [Twitter](https://www.twitter.com/ohemgeeitscoley) and [Tumblr](https://ohemgeeitscoley.tumblr.com/).


	3. Chapter Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm posting this before I leave on vacation where one of my main goals is to hopefully get the rest of this story finished! I really hope that if you are reading this, you are enjoying it, because I've truly had the best time writing it <3

The next morning Ben is surprised when he sees Snoke walking across the lobby and he looks… almost happy? His steps are less heavy than usual and there's an almost air of satisfaction that is coming off of him that is contagious. 

"Good morning, sir," Ben says while he stands from his desk. "Your three o'clock got pushed back to four, so I was able to get you into the massage place you mentioned at 2."

Snoke smiles. An honest to God smile. Ben tries to keep his face from showing his shock as he tries to figure out if he's ever seen Snoke smile before. It's a little off putting. 

"That's great." Snoke responds. The smile is gone from his face, but he almost sounds appreciative. "You should sit in on the four. We are covering some materials that'll be important for you to have a concept of once you move on."

Ben stares at him, and despite his best efforts he's not sure that his mouth doesn't open just a little bit at what Snoke is offering. This is everything Ben has been waiting for. A step toward the light at the end of the tunnel. 

"Of course." Ben gives a quick nod at the end of his sentence.

"Would you mind running down the street and grabbing me some lunch and some coffee?" Snoke walks past Ben's desk, pausing just before he goes into his office and adds, "Please."

Ben turns around to look at Snoke, blinking a few times before answering. "Of course, sir. I'll go now."

Ben smiles to himself as he heads toward the elevator. He hesitates with his finger hovering just over the down button, before he moves his hand up to press the up button instead. 

He almost hates the smug smile on Rey's face he can perfectly imagine when he tells her that her plan worked.

Almost. 

***

Rey hums along with the song playing softly in the background. Amilyn's calendar is surprisingly blank, besides an early morning meeting that she has already finished. Rey's already placed an order for her lunch to be delivered at 11:45 am exactly. Amilyn smiled at Rey when Rey let her know. 

Amilyn brought up Snoke and went on and on about him when she first got to work. It is amazing. The way Amilyn can't stop smiling. Her happiness appears to be giving her an energetic boost as she goes from office to office and checking on everyone's projects.

Rey is working on a layout for a proposal for an environment company. It's easy enough work and much better than taking notes during a meeting, or running around trying to keep up with Amilyn's fitness instructor's new goals. She's even had time to read through a few articles that a few old friends from college had sent her over the last few months.

It was nice. Even if it reminds Rey that she hasn't written anything since college.

"I was right," Ben's voice surprises Rey as she looks over at him from her computer.

Ben looks far too smug and happy, placing his elbows down against her desk as he bends down. 

"You were right about what?" Rey asks, turning her head to the side and taking him in. "The decision to wear that tie with that jacket? Cause," Rey makes a tsking sound, "I'm not so sure about that."

She's lying. The black suit Ben is wearing looks pretty amazing with the dark navy tie. It's a little unfair actually, how good Ben manages to look every time she sees him. 

His eyes narrow and the glare with the small pout is utterly endearing and adorable. Maybe Kaydel has a point. Maybe there's more than a chance she has feelings for him.

Not that she needs to be thinking about that now. Or ever.

"Tell me what you were right about? I can't imagine that happens often," Rey teases, saving the document she's working on before closing out of it. "Did the lemon electricity science project get first place?"

"The science fair isn't for another few weeks. I actually still need to start the poster boards for it," Ben shakes his head. "This conversation is not going how I planned."

Rey grins. "You planned the conversation?"

"Did you get an extra ounce of feisty in your coffee this morning?" Ben's lips twist up in half a smile. "Or do you just enjoy messing with me?"

"Maybe a little bit of both." Rey shrugs. "So, tell me what you were right about."

"The plan worked." Ben stands back up, stretching his arms over his head. "Snoke asked me to go get him coffee. And he said please, Rey. Please. I didn't know Snoke was aware that the word please even existed."

"That's so great, Ben." Rey grins. "However, I'm a little unclear on how you were right in this situation. If I remember correctly, you had a bad feeling about this. So I think the words you are looking for might be more along the lines of 'you were right, Rey, and I'll never doubt your supreme intelligence ever again.'"

Ben rolls his eyes, chuckling. "Want to take a break and go get the coffee with me? I'd love the company."

Rey nods, standing from her chair. "That sounds perfect. I stayed up way too late with Kay last night looking at venues for her engagement party."

They start walking toward the elevator, Rey smiles at the receptionist by the front entrance to the office and lets her know that she is taking a quick break, but to call her if Amilyn needs anything.

Not that Rey thinks she will. She can see Amilyn leaning over one of the graphic designer's shoulders, staring intently on whatever is on the screen. 

Rey could get used to days like this.

The sun is bright and high in the sky. Rey stills for a moment, tilting her head up and letting the warmth settle over her. There's a light breeze, but it feels nice. 

Rey feels Ben's hand brush against hers, pulling her out of her haze. She opens her eyes and looks at him, a blush spreading over her face as he toys with her fingers with his. Finally, he grabs onto her hand. 

“C’mon,” Ben says, tugging on her hand. “Snoke’s going to wonder what is taking me so long if we don’t get going.”

“Right,” Rey laughs nervously, falling into step behind him. “Don’t want to ruin the first good mood you’ve ever seen.”

They spend the rest of the walk in relative silence. Ben doesn’t let go of Rey’s hand. Rey doesn’t try to pull away either. His hand is warm and she enjoys the way the warmth seeps into her skin. 

He still doesn't let go of her hand when they walk into the coffee shop. Or when they are standing in line. Ben rattles off Snoke's order and his own with ease. He squeezes her hand when he adds her own tea order at the end. 

Something inside of her flutters as she listens to him order her favorite drink. She's not sure if it's because they've been spending so much time together trying to come up with a plan that would work, or if it's because he is paying attention to her. But she likes the way it makes her feel. 

The longer she holds his hand, the more she smiles. It's getting harder for her to deny that maybe Kaydel is right. Which is not great. 

Kaydel is the most insufferable when she is right.

Ben lets go of her hand to go grab the drinks from the counter after his name is called. He holds out her cup when he walks back over for her to take. Rey takes a small sip, savoring the taste and the warmth of the drink. 

Rey tries not to think about how much she misses the feeling of his hand on the way back. 

***

It’s just past five and Ben is already at his apartment, looking through the cabinets to see what seasoning he has available to him. He isn’t sure the last time he was home early enough to actually make dinner. It feels nice, moving around the kitchen and seasoning chicken and making something.

The door opens and Poe walks in, he stares at Ben, his mouth opening and closing a few times. Poe tilts his head to the side, and walks back out the door, closing it behind him. Ben blinks, wondering what the fuck Poe is doing when the door opens back up, and Poe walks back in.

“You realize that it isn’t even six and you are home right?” Poe asks, closing the door. 

“Yes, I am aware of that.” Ben laughs, sprinkling some thyme over the chicken on the stove. “Snoke left the office early, so I took off.”

“Snoke left early?” Poe asks in disbelief. “Again? What is going on?”

Ben flips the chicken, seasoning the other side. “Rey and I may have come up with a plan to guarantee some extra free time. And it appears to be working.”

“Rey?” Poe walks into the kitchen, leaning against the counter behind Ben. “The girl whose dinner you stole?”

Ben rolls his eyes. “I didn’t steal her dinner. I paid for the dinner. I was like a knight in shining armor if you really think about it.”

“No,” Poe responds, shaking his head. “You were definitely not the good guy in that story. You literally asked her to pay you back with interest. I’m surprised she ever talked to you again.”

“Yeah,” Ben concedes. “I am too.”

Ben puts a lid over the pan with the chicken and walks to the refrigerator to pull out the broccoli to start steaming it. “Anyways,” he says as he starts to season the vegetable, “She came up with this plan to get our bosses together. We figured if they were busy with each other, we’d be able to have more time out of the office.”

“Wait,” Poe stops him, holding his hand up in the air. “You guys set your bosses up?”

“Yeah.”

“Wow,” Poe blinks a few times, dropping his hand back down. “I guess I didn’t see that coming. Okay. Continue.”

“I mean, there isn’t much more to the story. The first attempt… was bad. The second one worked. And so far it has led to me having time to go out for drinks with Rey, spend some time with my parents, and make my roommate dinner.”

Ben shrugs, tossing the broccoli into the steamer. “Not so bad, really.”

“You are the worst story teller,” Poe complains. “I feel like you are leaving out some juicy details with that four second retelling.”

“There’s not much to tell. We got them to kiss on the kiss cam at a Yankees’ game and they hit it off.”

“You went out for drinks with Rey?” Poe asks, raising his eyebrows. “When’s the last time you went out for drinks with a girl?”

Ben ignores Poe’s question. “Rey thinks we probably need to keep tabs on Snoke and Amilyn, her boss, to make sure things stay good between them. That seems weird to me though? I mean, we got them talking, shouldn’t we let them take it over from here?”

“Absolutely not,” Poe quickly answers. “Listen to Rey. She sounds much, much smarter than you. Speaking of which, tell me more about how you went out for drinks with her and explain why you keep blushing whenever I say her name.”

Ben sighs. “You’re worse than my mom, Poe, and that is really saying something.”

“You know I take being in the company of Leia Organa-Solo to be a compliment,” Poe reminds Ben. “Now tell me about Rey before I call your mom to get the details from her.”

Ben goes back to cooking, flipping the chicken around and checking the temperature. “Dinner’s almost done.”

“Great,” Poe moves toward the fridge and grabs two beers before walking over to the small dining room table that barely fits in the apartment. “You can tell me all about Rey while we eat.”

Ben shakes his head, turning the burner off. “There’s nothing to tell.”

“Why don’t you let me be the judge of that?” Poe asks, moving around Ben to grab plates and silverware. “You’re pretty dense when it comes to these things.”

“Why am I friends with you?”

Poe laughs, slapping Ben on his shoulder. “Because I put up with your bullshit and bad attitude.”

“Ah,” Ben answers, with a quick nod. “That is probably true.” 

They don’t say anything for a few minutes, while Ben finishes the food and piles it onto the plates that Poe left on the counter for him. 

Ben waits for Poe to ask more questions, or really to say anything as they start eating. Poe, however, is frustratingly silent as he just looks at Ben and waits for him to start talking. 

“Rey is…” Ben finally begins, pausing as he tries to think of the words to describe Rey. “She’s great. Actually. She’s smart and fun. She has this whole personality that is just… I don’t know. I like her.”

“Yeah, no shit,” Poe laughs, his smile wide as he looks at Ben. “Does she know that?”

“Maybe?” Ben answers with a shrug. “It’s a weird situation. We are working together to get our bosses to let us have more free time. Neither of us really have time for anything more. You know that’s why I don’t date. I need to focus on being a good assistant so Snoke will recommend me for a higher position.”

“I hate when you do that,” Poe scoffs. “Act like Snoke is the be all and end all to you going somewhere in your life. You know that’s not the case. I know that’s not the case. So don’t even go there with me.”

Ben uses his fork to move some broccoli around on his plate. He does know exactly how Poe feels about him refusing to use his family and their connections in his work life. It’s been a fairly sore spot in their friendship. 

It’s definitely not an argument he wants to have now, not when this is the first time he’s had time to hang out with Poe that wasn’t at 2 am when they both should be sleeping.

“What about you?” Ben asks, changing the subject. “How’s your dating life lately? I feel like I’ve seen the same guy sneaking out of here a few times in the last few weeks.”

“Finn.” Poe says, a small smile on his face. “His name is Finn. We’ve been seeing each other a little while now.”

“How long is a little while?”

“Two months,” Poe answers, looking down at his plate. “We’ve been seeing each other for two months.”

“That’s like… a record for you?” Ben teases, enjoying the way Poe blushes and rolls his eyes in response. “You must really like him.”

“I do.” Poe’s smile grows as he shakes his head. “I really do.”

“You should have him over,” Ben says. “At a normal time. I’d love to meet him.”

“Sure,” Poe agrees. “Let me know when Rey is free. We can have them both over.”

Ben glares at Poe. “I hate you.”

Poe lifts his hands up to hold over his heart, his face twisting in fake hurt. “That stings, Ben, it really does.”

“Shut up,” Ben tosses a napkin at Poe, laughing as it bounces off of him.

“I’m serious though,” Poe says after a moment. “Bring Rey around. I’d like to meet her.”

“Mom wants me to bring her to her birthday lunch.”

“I think that’s a terrific idea.”

“Of course you do,” Ben stands up, grabbing his plate and Poe’s and takes them over to the sink. “I’ll think about it.

***

“Rey!” Amilyn yells from her desk.

Rey looks up from her computer to see Amilyn slamming her office phone back down onto the receiver. “My phone isn’t working.”

Rey squints, picking up her phone and pressing the button for Amilyn’s extension. She can hear the beep in Amilyn’s office as it connects them. 

“The phone seems to be working fine, Ami--”

“It isn’t working, Rey.” Amilyn interrupts her, and Rey can see how irritated she is when she stands up from her desk and starts pacing around her desk. 

“Right,” Rey answers, trying to figure out what is going on. “I’ll figure it out.”

“You better,” Amilyn responds, throwing her hands up. “I’m going to my meeting, I want my phone working by the time I get back.”

Rey watches as Amilyn leaves her office and heads to the elevator. Rey waits a moment before getting up from her desk and going into Amilyn’s office. She lifts up the phone and, sure enough, there is a dial tone and everything seems to be fine.

Rey isn’t sure why Amilyn is freaking out about her phone… unless.

Of course.

It’s been about three days since the game. Amilyn hasn’t said anything else about Snoke. She’s waiting for him to call her. And he hasn’t.

This is exactly why Rey had told Ben that they couldn’t leave it up to Amilyn and Snoke to do things by themselves. They needed assistance. If they were good at nurturing relationships and taking the time away from work to do so, neither she or Ben would likely be in the positions they are in. 

Rey goes back to her desk, grabs her cell phone and calls Ben. 

“Houston, we have a problem,” Rey says when Ben answers his phone. “Snoke hasn’t called Amilyn and she is losing her shit.”

“Why doesn’t she just call him?” Ben asks.

Rey rolls her eyes, impatiently tapping her fingers against her desk.

“Because she’s busy running one of the best media firms in all of New York?” Rey answers, cringing slightly at how defensive she sounds. 

“You say that as if Snoke isn’t just as busy with his company?” Ben responds. “Just have Amilyn call him.”

“He needs to call her,” Rey starts to explain. “As old school as it may be, I think Amilyn wants him to call her first. To be the one reaching out first and expressing his continued interest in her.”

“Okay,” Ben sighs, and Rey can perfectly envision the way he would look as he tries to come up with a plan. “We can make this work. Just, I’ll get Snoke on hold, and you get Amilyn on hold, and we can just make them think that the other one initiated the call.” 

“That’s… that’s a good plan actually,” Rey smiles to herself. “About time you contribute something more than negativity to this situation.”

“When works for Amilyn for the call?” Ben asks. 

Rey pulls up her schedule. “She’s just going into a meeting. But she could do a call at 2, or at 4. Maybe 7, but I’d like to get a call in earlier than later.”

“Snoke can do 2. I’ll place the call to you then.”

“Perfect,” Rey claps her hands together. “And send flowers. Make it seem like Snoke is really putting in some effort here. Amilyn loves gardenias. Nothing too showy.”

“Fine,” Ben answers. “Anything else?” 

“Yeah,” Rey says quickly and with a little bit more sarcasm than she intends. “Next time I say something really smart like let’s not leave the next steps up to our bosses, maybe listen to me.”

Ben huffs and Rey grins at the sound. Teasing Ben is a little too fun.

***

The phone call works great. Ben’s actually a little more than just pleased with how well his plan works. Snoke got a much needed ego boost by thinking that Amilyn reached out first and, according to Rey, Amilyn loved the flowers and the fact that Snoke called her first.

Rey was right, not that Ben is planning on letting her know that, they are going to have to continue intervening and making sure that Amilyn and Snoke stay on the same page. 

The phone call works well enough that Snoke and Amilyn agree to dinner. Rey offers to make reservations at Amilyn’s favorite restaurant. Ben tells Snoke the name so he can suggest it to Amilyn as the place to go. It’s an easy process to follow and Ben can easily picture how it’s going to work in the future. As long as he and Rey keep talking and making the plans for them, it’s hard to imagine that they’ll run into too many hiccups. Besides, any issues that do arise, they’ll be the first to hear about them and will be able to course correct and get things on the right path again.

There’s also the added benefit that for all of this to work, Ben is going to have to keep seeing and talking to Rey. 

Snoke tells Ben that he can head out for the night when he leaves for dinner. Ben texts Rey, rolling his eyes as she responds with a bunch of emojis and he can’t quite decipher what exactly they are all supposed to indicate. He understands enough to believe that she is also off of work.

He debates calling her, asking her if she wants to go out. So that they can plan how things should proceed from here. Rey beats him to it though, stepping out of the elevator just before he is about to call.

“I know this was all my idea,” Rey starts, her voice loud, as she walks over to her desk, “But I’m not going to lie, I’m a little surprised at how well this is working.”

“I’m a little surprised that you are admitting that,” Ben teases, standing up and meeting Rey in the middle of the room. “Doesn’t quite fit the always right persona of yours.”

“You hardly know me, Ben Solo,” Rey shrugs. There’s a small smile on her face and her eyes are bright and Ben is trying not to be distracted by how pretty she looks. “I am very capable of admitting when I’m wrong. It just doesn’t happen very often.”

Ben laughs, shaking his head. “I was thinking we should grab dinner?”

It sounds like he’s asking her out on a date, he realizes after he asks the question. Rey’s eyes widen a bit, and Ben can’t quite tell if they widen in a good way or a bad way. And he probably shouldn’t have stopped talking after asking her, and gone on to explain that he thinks it’d be a good idea for them to come up with a game plan for the next few weeks and what the plan is going to look like between them to keep things going smoothly between Snoke and Amilyn.

He can feel the words on the tip of his tongue about to spill out in an embarrassing fashion to cover up the original intent of his question, when finally, Rey answers.

“Yeah,” Rey nods, smiling at him. “I’d love to get dinner with you.”

***

It is almost unsettling to Rey how easy she finds being around Ben and opening up to him. It’s nice, eating dinner with him and teasing him as he opens up about his family and how he teases her about the stress of planning Kaydel’s engagement party. 

She tells him about her childhood and what it was like in foster care and how she spent most of college in the library trying to keep her grades up for her scholarship, or at her different jobs to pay for what her scholarship didn’t cover. 

She likes the way he listens, he doesn’t interrupt and he asks just the right amount of questions to keep her talking and the conversation somehow doesn’t lag between them at all. But even when they are silent, when they are more focused on eating, it’s comfortable. Rey doesn’t feel like she needs to fill the silence to keep him interested in her.

She thinks that maybe this is a date. 

She likes the idea of it being a date.

“So Kaydel’s engagement party is the same day as my mom’s birthday lunch,” Ben says as he pushes his plate to the side of the table. “Which means we are going to need to guarantee an entire Saturday free from work.”

“And part of Sunday.” Rey adds. “At least for me. I can’t go into work at 8 am on a Sunday with the hangover I know I am going to have that morning.”  
  


Ben laughs. “Okay, so an entire Saturday and half off Sunday. How are we going to do that?”

Rey stirs her drink, tilting her head as she tries to come up with a plan. “There’s no way that both of them will stay away from the office for a whole weekend unless they aren’t actually in the city.’

“So we need to get them out of the city for the weekend.”

Rey nods. “A romantic trip away. We have six weeks before the parties, that’s plenty of time to get them to a romantic trip stage.”

“What are we going to do in the meantime?” Ben wonders. “I was thinking maybe we take turns setting up their dates? And if there are any problems, we should be able to do what we did today again. Just coordinate and figure out the best way to get them back on the same page.”

“Exactly,” Rey agrees, gathering the last bit of food on her plate before setting the empty plate on top of Ben’s. “I think that as long as we keep coordinating what they do, and where they go, and keeping our ears open for any complaints, this is going to work perfectly.”

“Dessert?” The waiter asks as he walks over to their table, holding up a smaller menu. He sets the menu down in front of Rey. 

“Always,” Rey answers, grabbing the menu and reading through the options. 

“I’ll give you guys a few minutes to look over the options.” He grabs the plates from the edge of the table and walks away.

“What do you think Ben?” Rey asks, as she reads the menu. “Cheesecake? Chocolate mousse cake? Fried ice cream with caramel?”

Ben scrunches his nose. “All of those options sound like more sugar than I have in a week.”

Rey rolls her eyes. “C’mon, live a little with me here. We’ll split something. Then it’s only half the sugar. Besides, maybe a little extra sugar will sweeten you up.”

Ben tilts his head down and Rey can tell that he is trying to hide the blush that is spreading over his face. It pushes his hair away from his ears though, and Rey grins as she can see them redden. 

Rey hands him the menu. “I’ll eat pretty much anything. So you pick.”

Ben studies the menu. Rey isn’t shy about watching Ben as he decides what to order. He’s cute when he concentrates, she decides. The way his eyebrows knit together in concentration, as if deciding what dessert to order is actually a big decision that warrants such efforts. 

“I’m thinking cheesecake,” Ben finally says, setting the menu down in front of him. “Unless there was something else you really wanted?”

“I like cheesecake,” Rey answers. 

“I think it’s sweet that you’re so close to your parents,” Rey says after they order the dessert. “They really seem to care about you.”

“They drive me crazy,” Ben says, shaking his head. “I told them about how we went out the other day after the game, and my mom started playing 20 questions to get more information about you.”

“Kaydel did the same thing with you when we were walking home that night,” Rey laughs. “I’m pretty sure she has probably found out everything about you that is available on the internet since I wasn’t answering her questions thoroughly enough according to her.”

“My mom has probably already called Poe and asked him to do the internet stalking for her,” Ben admits. “Poe had a lot of questions about you too. He already wants to meet you.”

Rey debates telling him about how Kaydel wants her to invite him to the engagement party. It’s six weeks away, asking him now seems like a big step. Especially when she’s still not completely sure what is going on between them. 

But he told his parents about her. And his roommate. He holds her hand when they are walking. And she hasn’t been able to get that kiss from the game out of her head. 

She decides that it’s worth the risk to at least bring it up.

“Kaydel wants me to bring you to the engagement party,” Rey says, taking a drink as she waits for Ben to respond.

He chuckles. 

Which isn’t exactly the reaction Rey was hoping for, if she’s being honest with herself. 

She tries to keep the disappointment off of her face.

“Don’t worry,” Rey starts, quickly trying to get gloss over the conversation. “I told her you’d probably be too busy, since it’s your mom’s birthday and everything.”

It annoys Rey how Ben seems to pick up on her discomfort, he places his hand over hers on the table.

“I’m only laughing because my mom wants you to go to go with me to her lunch,” Ben smiles reassuringly at her. “I’m pretty sure if Poe did a good enough job on his internet stalking that you’ll probably get your own invitation email soon. My mom really doesn’t understand boundaries. Almost ever.”

“I’d love to go,” Rey says hopefully. “If you’d like me to that is?”

“I would.” Ben’s grin is large and contagious. Rey holds his stare and her smile grows the longer they look at each other. “I’d love to go with you to Kaydel’s engagement party too. As long as you want me to?”

“I do,” Rey bites her bottom lip and finally looks away from Ben for a second. “It’s a date.”

***

The next few weeks pass quickly. Ben meets Rey every morning for coffee and they go over how things are going with Amilyn and Snoke. They decide early on to alternate who plans their next date, that way they are both contributing and making sure that they are choosing things that will make both Amilyn and Snoke happy.

It’s easily the best five weeks Ben has experienced in the time he has worked for Snoke. He gets off most days at a reasonable time. Snoke yells less and is just, in general, less of an asshole. 

Then there’s the fact that he sees Rey every day. They get coffee. Ben brings Rey lunch when she mentions that Amilyn has her working lunch meetings for a week. She tells him about the different things she and Kaydel have planned for the engagement party, and how Kaydel has already sent Rey dresses to look at for the wedding.

Rey sends some of them to Ben. Rey complains about a few, and how she’s pretty sure Kaydel is joking and sending her some of the ugliest dresses possible. Ben tells her that he has a hard time believing she could look bad in anything.

Ben tries to keep his hope down that maybe Rey will ask if he wants to go to the wedding with her. He hopes she does. 

At some point, Ben knows that he needs to ask Rey what exactly they are doing. Neither of them bring it up. But Ben knows that they are working toward something and that they probably should talk about what it is exactly.

He’s thinking about doing it today. He and Rey are supposed to go to dinner since they scheduled Amilyn and Snoke to go to a play last week.

Then they have a few days that are going to consist of long hours and hard work because Snoke and Amilyn are going to be gone from Friday to Monday. Ben still can’t fully believe that it is really happening. It’s the longest amount of time either of them have had off. 

Ben isn’t prepared for the mess that he walks into when he gets to the office. He can see the receptionist packing her things into a box, tears streaming down her face. Ben is about to ask her what happened when he can hear Snoke yelling across the office, he can’t quite make out the words, but it is clear that he is not happy. Ben hurries to Snoke’s office, he pauses by his desk when he sees Snoke’s son’s science project in pieces and scattered across the floor.

Fuck.

Ben doesn’t knock on the door, he knows that Snoke wouldn’t be able to hear him over his own voice. 

Ben tries not to flinch at the sound of a chair hitting the window. 

“Where the fuck have you been,” Snoke asks, turning from the window to glare at Ben. “I’ve been here for over an hour and you’ve just been what, taking a leisurely stroll through the city?”

Ben debates pointing out that Snoke had said last night that he wouldn’t be in until at least ten, and that it’s only eight now, but then Snoke picks the chair up and tosses it at the window again. 

He decides to start by apologizing instead.

“I’m sorry, sir. It won’t happen again.” Ben knows he needs to figure out what is going on so he can try to problem solve how to get Snoke to calm down. “I had you scheduled out since you had dinner with Amilyn--”

“Yeah,” Snoke interrupts with a huff. “I had dinner with Amilyn last night and she tried to make a complete fool out of me.”

Ben tries to keep from panicking. This cannot happen. Amilyn and Snoke’s relationship cannot implode three days before the weekend he and Rey need off. 

The universe can’t be that cruel.

“I’m sure she didn’t mean--”

“Are you trying to tell me I am wrong?” Snoke’s stare is hard and cold and Ben wishes he could be anywhere but here. 

“Of course not.” Ben answers without missing a beat. “I would never do that.”

“Damn straight,” Snoke mutters under his breath. “This is probably for the best anyway. I’ve been spending too much time away from work. It’ll be good to get refocused. I’m going to start making some calls. You’ll need to come in this weekend.”

“Absolutely,” Ben says, rubbing his lips together. “I’ll let everyone else know.”

Ben walks out of Snoke’s office, carefully shutting the door before quickly making his way to his desk and calling Rey.

“Code red,” Ben says in a panic as soon as Rey answers her phone, not bothering with any greeting, hoping that she understands the urgency from the tone of his voice. “Code red. Code shit.”

***

Rey pulls her phone away from her ear as Ben keeps yelling out the same two words, a variation of either code red or code shit. She’s not sure what is going on, but it clearly is not good. She presses her phone back to her ear and tilts her head to hold it against her shoulder as she picks up the pile of mail that is in the mail room and walks to the elevator.

“What are you talking about, Ben?” She asks while pressing the button to call the elevator a few times. “What happened?”

“I got to work and Snoke was already here.” Ben sounds a little breathless in his response. “He threw his chair at the window twice, Rey. He said Amilyn made a fool out of him last night. What happened?”

Rey steps into the elevator and her stomach flutters with nerves. “I don’t know. I haven't been in the office yet, I’m on my way up now.”

Bem doesn’t say anything else and the silence does nothing to quell Rey’s growing anxiety as the elevator slowly goes up. There’s a small ding when the elevator gets to her floor.

“He cancelled this weekend,” Ben blurts out when Rey steps off the elevator. Rey falters, her closing for just a second. She drops the mail off at the front desk and gives the man behind the desk a small smile before walking away.

“What do you mean he cancelled the weekend?” Rey panics. “He cannot cancel this weekend.”

“We have to figure out what happened last night and fix it.” Ben says, ignoring Rey’s question. 

“Where did they go?” Rey sets her coffee down on her desk and turns on her computer. “It was your turn to set up the date.”

“No it wasn’t,” Ben argues, his tone defensive and grating. “It was yours.”

Rey sits down, tilting her head back against her chair as she shuts her eyes. Ben didn’t plan the date. Which means that Snoke or Amilyn made the plans by themselves.

“It was absolutely your turn, Ben,” Rey sighs, rubbing her finger into her temple. “I did sushi on Tuesday. I can’t believe you forgot.”

“Fuck,” Ben mutters apologetically, “I forgot.”

Rey can hear Snoke yelling in the background and she winces. This is not good. This is absolutely not good. 

“How are we going to fix--”

“Rey!” Amilyn’s voice is clear and deadly as it sounds across the office.

Rey sits up straight, opening her eyes and watching as Amilyn storms across the hall over to her desk.

She hangs up on Ben, placing her phone down on her desk and quickly standing up.

“Change in plans,” Amilyn barks out when she gets closer to Rey, she doesn’t bother stopping, but Rey follows her toward her office. “I won’t be leaving town this weekend. I think it’s the perfect time to pull together the layout and design for Empire’s new website. You’ll need to start figuring out the scheduling. I want it all sorted by the time I get back from yoga.”

“Absolutely,” Rey nods, hovering in the doorway of Amilyn’s office. “Did something happen? I know you were really looking forward to this weekend.”

The glare Amilyn gives Rey sends chills down Rey’s spine.

“I am not talking about this with you,” Amilyn says coldly. “Now go do your job.”

Rey sucks in a sharp breath while taking a step back and letting the door close as she turns around.

Fucked.

They are completely and totally fucked. 


	4. Chapter Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And the chapter count keeps going up. I was thinking I’d just up it to 7, because maybe I can get this done in 7 chapters, but 8 is probably a more realistic number. I hope if you are reading this that you are enjoying it. I truly have had so much fun writing Ben and Rey in this universe.

“What are we going to do?” Ben asks Rey as soon as she steps in the elevator. “This can’t all fall apart now of all times.”

Rey knows that the situation is bad just from the conversations she’s had with Amilyn, and that’s overheard while in the office that morning, but looking at Ben and taking in his loose tie and hair that’s slightly disheveled, she knows that it is really, really bad.

“I know.” Rey sighs, pressing her fingers into her temple while leaning her head back against the elevator wall. “Why couldn’t this happen next week? I mean, it’ll suck whenever it does happen. But this weekend, Ben, we deserve this weekend.”

“I don’t know how we are going to fix this. I don’t even know if I’m going to have time to help try to fix anything.” Ben glances up at the ceiling. “The lemon electricity project was directly in Snoke’s war path this morning. It’s completely destroyed. The science fair is tomorrow. I have no idea what I’m going to do.”

“Oh, Ben.” Rey reaches out and places her hand on his arm. “I’ll come up and help tonight. I have a lifelong history of waiting until the last minute to do projects. We’ll come up with something.”

“We need a plan,” Ben says, looking down at Rey before nodding slowly a few times. “I am going to admit that we need a Rey plan.”

Rey snorts. “Of course now is when you admit that my plans are far superior to yours.”

Ben laughs and it makes Rey smile. There should be no smiling or laughter at this moment, Rey knows that there is a very, very good chance she’s going to have to tell Kaydel that she can’t make the engagement party. That Ben is going to have to miss Leia’s birthday. Rey is barely able to keep her own disappointment down that this means that their date isn’t going to happen.

If they can’t fix whatever happened last night, everything they’ve worked so hard for is going to slip right from their grasp.

So, no there shouldn’t be any laughter or smiling, but it fills Rey up with hope that maybe even without Amilyn and Snoke together, things between her and Ben can be good.

“Do you even know what happened?” Rey asks while they walk out of the elevator and through the main lobby of the building. It’s windy, Rey pulls her sweater tight. “Amilyn did not want to talk about it. I have some random clues like that he’s an insufferable embarrassment, something about food, and I think vomit?”

Ben grimaces. “Yeah, that’s about all I was able to get out of Snoke. Only in his version Amilyn is vindictive and was out to make a fool of him.”

“Great.” Rey closes her eyes for a second, taking a deep breath. “We need to get them both to apologize to each other. Like the original phone call, where we got them both to think that the only one was initiating contact.”

“I’ve never heard Snoke say anything remotely close to the word sorry, Rey.”

“Yeah,” Rey acknowledges Ben’s point, tossing her hands up a bit in the air. “I can’t say I have for Amilyn either, but that’s what they are both going to want to hear. They need to believe that the other one is sorry. Otherwise, it’s goodbye weekend and hello work.”

“Any ideas on how to make that work?” 

“Nope,” Rey shakes her head. “But we’ll come up with something, Ben. We have to. I have not spent the last three days tearing apart my closet looking for the perfect outfit to wear to your mom’s lunch to not at least try to salvage this.”

Ben grabs onto Rey’s hand, spinning her around. He’s got this small smile on his face that feels so intimate and personal that Rey almost wants to look away. Only, she thinks that the smile is meant for her and that freezes her in place.

“You’re worried about what to wear to my mom’s party?” He asks, and his smile grows. 

Rey blushes, glancing away. “I mean, a little bit,” Rey admits and Ben squeezes her hand. It’s reassuring and when Rey looks back at him, he’s still got that smile on his face and his eyes are soft and he looks so happy. “I want your parents to like me. I want to make a good impression.”

“You will,” Ben says and it sounds like a promise. “Trust me. You could show up wearing those pajamas with the snowflakes and reindeer on them and my parents would still love you.”

Rey narrows her eyes at Ben, using her free hand to playfully shove against his shoulder. “You were never supposed to see those pajamas. They are my comfort pajamas.”

“They’re cute.”

Rey turns around, tugging on Ben’s hand as she starts walking again. “We’ll figure this out Ben.”

“I believe you,” Ben replies and there’s so much confidence in his voice that Rey almost believes him. “Besides, I’ve also been going through my clothes trying to figure out what to wear to Kaydel’s engagement party, and I would hate to have all of that time wasted.”

“You’re struggling with what to wear?” Rey questions, knitting her eyebrows together. “You? The guy who wears suits to a Yankees game is unsure of what he is going to wear to an engagement party?”

“Yeah,” Ben answers and Rey looks over at him as he shrugs a little, his lips twisting in a mischievous grin. “I have it narrowed down to these two black suits. But one is more black than the other, and I’m just not sure. And then the tie and the undershirt. I mean, should I add in a dash of color? Or keep it to my usual with a white shirt and black tie?”

“My dress is green,” Rey offers. “You could find something to go with that?”

“Green? Yeah. I can work with green.” 

Rey smiles at Ben as he holds the door open to the coffee shop for her. “Now, I really have to figure out a good plan for this. I can’t miss an opportunity to see Ben Solo wearing color.”

Ben shakes his head. “You’re a little bit ridiculous.”

“So are you,” Rey points out, grabbing a banana muffin from the shelf as they stand in line. “I think it works for us.”

***

Ben stares at the computer screen, scrolling through Pinterest and the different “easy” science fair project ideas.

Absolutely none of them look easy. At a minimum it would take him days to get the projects ready. Glancing down at his watch, Ben sighs. It’s almost 11 pm and the project has to be done by 7 am for it to make it to the school in time. 

He has eight hours to somehow figure out a project, by the necessary items to complete the project, build the project and write out the information on a posterboard. Even with Rey’s help, Ben isn’t sure how this is going to work at all.

Ben’s a little worried about Rey, if he’s being completely honest. He hasn’t heard from her since they got coffee that morning and agreed to meet tonight to go over whatever plan she manages to come up with and to work on the science project together. The original plan had been for them to meet at 10, but she hasn’t shown up and she hasn’t responded to his messages.

The elevator dings and Ben looks over, a smile already on his face at the thought of seeing Rey. Only it isn’t Rey walking across the office, it’s Snoke. Snoke’s movements are much more loose than normal, there’s a certain sway to his body when he walks toward Ben. Once Snoke is closer Ben can see the mostly empty bottle of alcohol in Snoke’s hand and it all clicks.

“You’re still here?” Snoke asks, and if the bottle and the walk hadn’t given it away, the slight slur to Snoke’s words would have. Snoke is definitely drunk.

“Yeah,” Ben answers, standing up from his desk. “The project is due tomorrow. So, I’m trying to come up with something.”

Snoke almost looks remorseful as he looks at the remnants of the destroyed science project sticking out of the trash can near Ben’s desk.

“You’re a good guy.” Snoke says and Ben tries to keep the shock off of his face. It almost sounds like an apology. It is definitely a compliment. “I don’t tell you that and I should.”

“Thank you, sir,” Ben responds, running his hands down his suit jacket. “I appreciate it.”

“You want a drink?” Snoke offers, holding up the bottle in his hands. “I have more in my office.”

Ben nods, following behind Snoke as he heads into the office. 

They are silent as Ben watches Snoke try to open the bottle in his desk. Ben wants to take the bottle from him and open it himself, but he also knows better than to push his luck when it comes to Snoke and what he might take as offensive. Snoke starts rummaging around his office looking for something to open the bottle with. Ben’s eyes widen as he pulls out a small knife and goes to try to cut the cork out of the bottle.

“Why don’t I try first?” Ben asks, but he’s already moving and placing his hand on the bottle and taking it away from Snoke.

It’s surprising how little resistance there is from Snoke. Ben pulls the cork out easily, setting it down on the desk before pouring the alcohol into the two cups Snoke had set down on the desk in front of him.

Ben waits for Snoke to take the first drink before taking his own. 

The alcohol burns his throat, but it’s good. Not that Snoke would have anything less than excellent alcohol in his office.

“I think I fucked up.” Snoke says after a few moments. “With Amilyn. She’s… well, she’s something.”

Ben thanks whatever higher power is giving him this opportunity, but is also growing steadily concerned that he is going to somehow fuck up whatever advice he is about to give Snoke. This could be his and Rey’s one opportunity to fix things between Snoke and Amilyn.

Of course it would fall into his lap. 

Rey would know what to say.

Ben doesn’t quite know what to say, so he just nods instead. Snoke seems to take that as a signal to keep talking.

“I almost called her before coming up here, you know?” Snoke finishes his drink and quickly refills his glass. “But I can’t make myself do that. I can’t be the one to call first. What kind of guy would that make me?”

Ben finishes his drink and says the first thing that comes into his head, hoping that if it blows up in his face that he might be able to get away with being a little too drunk, or that he can get Snoke drunk enough to forget it.

“The kind that cares about someone?” Ben offers. “There’s nothing wrong with that. Relationships should be a bit of give and take, don’t you think?”

“Not in my experience.”

“I’m just saying, if you want to keep seeing Amilyn, maybe you should go up there and talk to her. Tell her what you just told me. That you fucked up. That she’s something… special. Women like to hear that. And, honestly, would you rather be with her or down here drinking with me?”

Snoke doesn’t respond. Instead, he twirls the cup in his hand, watching the amber liquid swirl and push against the glass. He takes another drink and sets the glass down.

“I’m going to head out,” Snoke finally says, standing up. Ben’s almost positive that he can see a small smile flash over his face for a second. “You can head home whenever.”

Ben decides it’s not the best time to remind Snoke that he actually can’t go home whenever because he has a science project to complete in less than eight hours. Instead, he follows Snoke out of his office and over to the elevator and watches as Snoke presses the up button.

He’s going to see Amilyn.

Somehow, whatever he said maybe worked.

Ben runs back to his desk once Snoke is on the elevator and grabs his cell phone to call Rey to tell her to get the fuck out of the office, if she’s still there. 

***

“Hey,” Rey says as she answers Ben’s call, “I know we were supposed to meet like, God, over an hour ago, but Amilyn has been yelling at me to do a million different things and I haven’t even had a chance to start coming up with a plan--”

“Rey,” Ben interrupts, his voice sounds almost giddy with excitement. It throws Rey off. “You need to get out of the office. Now.”

“What?” Rey narrows her eyes in confusion, half of her attention still on the magazine layout she’s been working on for the last hour. “I just told you that I can’t leave the office, Ben. Amilyn would kill--”

“Snoke is on his way up. He’s drunk. He is going to apologize to her,” Ben interrupts again. Now the happiness in his voice makes sense.

“Are you serious?” Rey asks, but she’s already saving the project she’s working on and closing out of the different applications. 

Ben doesn’t need to answer because Rey hears the elevator and watches as Snoke starts walking toward Amilyn’s office. Rey scrambles out of her chair and tries to hide underneath her desk.

“He’s here,” Rey whispers, a large grin on her face, she’s trying not to giggle at the situation she’s in. “How the fuck am I going to get out of here without them seeing me?”

“I don’t know,” Ben replies and Rey can clearly see the teasing look that must be on his face by the tone of his voice. “But figure it out and get down here. I need more help than I’d like to admit on this project.”

Rey hangs up and slides the phone into her pocket. Snoke is leaning against Amilyn’s door and is saying something that is beyond inappropriate and yet Amilyn’s laughing and telling him to come in. Rey waits until Snoke is in her office and the door is closed before she starts crawling around her desk. 

She’s not quite sure how her life involves moments of her crawling across the office floor to avoid ruining her boss’s sex life, but she’s not even mad about it.

The birthday party is back on. The engagement party is on. And she gets to spend the rest of her night helping Ben. 

All in all, her day is ending much better than it began.

Rey stands once she reaches the elevator, her fingers hover over the call button, but she pulls away and walks toward the stairs. She doesn’t want to risk more noise than necessary. 

Her mind is almost racing as she makes her way down the stairs trying to figure out how exactly Ben managed to pull this off. She hated admitting that she had managed to come up with absolutely zero plans on how to make things better between Amilyn and Snoke.

But somehow Ben had. Which is all that really matters.

Rey’s glad that she at least has a few different science project ideas to offer Ben. 

“Hey there,” Rey says as she walks over to where Ben is waiting for her in front of the elevator.

Ben doesn’t say anything in response, he just wraps his arms around Rey’s and spins her around a few times. 

“It worked!” Ben exclaims, setting Rey back down, his hands still loose on her hips.

“How did you pull this off? Rey asks, smiling up at him. “I might have to concede the best planner title.”

Ben chuckles, taking Rey’s hand as they walk over to his desk. “Honestly? I didn’t really do much.”

“What do you mean?”

“Snoke came in about half an hour ago. He was pretty drunk.” Ben shrugs. “He asked if I wanted to drink and then he started talking about Amilyn. And I just asked if he’d rather be with her or down here drinking with me. And then he left.”

“Amazing,” Rey says, her mouth opening a little in surprise. “I’ve spent all day trying to come up with the perfect apology that the two of them could send each other, and Snoke just, decides to be half decent today?”

“I couldn’t believe it,” Ben shakes his head, leaning back against his desk. Rey lets go of his hand and sits on the desk next to him. “I’ve spent most of the day planning out the phone call to my mom that we weren’t going to be able to make it.”

“That’s what you’ve spent your day on?” Rey bumps her shoulder against his. “No wonder you haven’t gotten anywhere on this science project.”

Ben rolls his eyes. “I’ve spent hours searching for a replacement project and none of them seem like something I can pull off in a few hours. Despite this working out well tonight for Snoke and Amilyn, there’s a pretty good chance I’m getting fired tomorrow.”

“Absolutely not going to happen,” Rey intertwines her fingers and stretches her arms out in front of her and then above her head. “I’ve come up with three easy options that we can definitely get done tonight.”

“Really?” Ben doesn’t sound like he believes her at all. “Three options? You managed to come up with three science project ideas but zero ideas on how to fix our bosses’s relationship?”

Rey shrugs. “Like I said, I have extensive experience on doing projects at the last minute. Do you want to hear the options are not?”

“Please continue.” Ben holds his hand out in front of Rey in an offering for her to proceed. 

“First, we could make homemade lava lamps. Second, we could make pennies turn green. Or, finally, the third option is magic milk.”

“A lava lamp?” Ben tilts his head down, taking a deep breath. “Rey, I can’t send Snoke’s kid to school with a homemade lava lamp for his science project.”

“Right.” Rey claps her hands together. “Magic milk it is then.”

“What is magic milk exactly?”

Rey just smiles at him, hoping off of the desk and walking toward the office kitchen.

“It’s magic.”

***

Ben watches Rey as she moves around the office kitchen with a familiarity that if he didn’t know better, he would assume that she works there. Which in all fairness, she has spent enough time with him at the office over the last few weeks that it makes sense.

She grabs three small bowls from one cabinet, balancing them in one hand as she searches through the drawers until she pulls out a box of food dye. The small fist bump in the air that she does when she finds the box is possibly one of the most adorable things Ben has seen.

He almost tells her that.

“Can I help get anything?” He asks instead.

“I got it all.” Rey frowns, her nose scrunching as she tries to concentrate on grabbing a bottle of dish soap. 

“Here,” Ben offers, closing the distance between them and grabbing the soap from her hands. “Let me help.”

“Right,” Rey breathes, smiling at him. “Grab the milk from the fridge and meet me over there.” 

Ben follows her gaze to a table next to a window on the far side of the office. He nods and heads over to the kitchen. He grabs the milk from the fridge, and a box of cookies that are next to the fridge that he’s positive Rey will want. 

Rey’s eyes light up when he sets the cookies down in front of her. 

“Magic milk is really very simple,” Rey starts, separating the stack of bowls and placing one bowl in front of him, one in the middle of them, and one in front of her. “You just add a little milk to the bowls.”

Ben follows her instructions, pouring milk into each bowl, stopping once Rey nods at him. 

“Perfect.” she says, opening the box of food dye and dumping out the small bottles of different colored dye. “Now, we just add a few drops of food dye.”

Ben grabs the green and yellow first, carefully dropping a few drops of each color into the bowl. He trades the colors for the red and blue bottles that Rey has and adds them as well.

“And now,” Rey rubs her hands together in excitement. “The magic happens.”

“Is there an incantation we need to say first?” Ben teases. Rey rolls her eyes in mock annoyance and the moment feels so familiar that Ben’s heart swells a bit. 

He’s falling for her. 

It’s possible that he has already fallen for her and he’s just in denial about it because he’s not quite sure how someone like Rey would feel the same way.

Only she does. He can tell that she does with the soft way she looks at him when she doesn't think he’s paying attention. And in the way she grabs his hand when they are walking or how she reaches out to comfort him when he’s frustrated or upset. 

She said that going to his mom’s birthday was a date. She invited him to Kaydel’s engagement party. She’s nervous about meeting his parents.

There’s really no doubt that she feels the same way. 

Yet, He just can’t quite wrap his head around it.

“Absolutely.” Rey agrees. “So go ahead. This is your project. Say the magic words.”

Ben stares at Rey, shaking his head. “I’m afraid magic words weren’t taught at any of the fancy schools I went to.”

“Sure.” Rey laughs before she sits up straight. She holds her palms out flat over the bowls and starts moving her hands in semi-circles over the bowls while humming. “And abracadabra.” 

She grabs the bottle of soap and squeezes a small drop into the milk and Ben watches as the colors dance around the milk.

It’s amazing.

“You’re amazing.” He says out loud.

Rey blushes, looking away from him, but not before he could note the way her eyes warm at his words. “I told you it was magic.”

“You did,” Ben agrees, taking the bottle from Rey and holding it over his own bowl. He sighs, closing his eyes as he mimics the hand gestures Rey had made earlier and whispers abracadabra before lightly squeezing the bottle and watching the way the colors in his own bowl swirl and move along the milk.

Rey’s laughing and moving to rest her elbows on the table, before pressing her head against her palm and she watches him. “I think this is a winner myself. Lemon electricity has got nothing on this.”

“We’ll have to write the instructions out,” Ben points out. “Make sure we have enough supplies to send along with the poster board to allow for demonstrations. I think this is an experiment that is going to require a lot of hands-on activity.”

“Oh, absolutely,” Rey agrees, running a finger over the edge of the bowl in front of her. “Want me to help with the poster board? On my never ending list of talents is my terrible penmanship. It’ll really sell that a child put this together.”

“You don’t have to,” Ben says, despite the fact that he wants her to stay. “I’m sure Kaydel wouldn’t mind seeing you.”

“Nah,” Rey shrugs. “Rose has the night off. And I could crash and be a third wheel, but I’d rather… I’d rather stay here with you? If that’s okay.”

“It’s more than okay,” Ben says softly. “Can we try again?” 

"Yeah, absolutely. Let me just--" Rey stands from her seat and moves into the chair next to him so that she's in front of the remaining bowl. 

Ben doesn't think when he reaches down for her hand. He watches as her cheeks redden and she smiles. It's small. Her lips barely turn up at the corners, but it's there and it's his and it's enough.

"Pour the milk?" Rey asks as she squeezes his hand.

Ben doesn't take his eyes off of her while he pours the milk. Rey has half her attention on the bowl and half on his lips and Ben would be lying if he said he didn't enjoy the way she was struggling to keep her attention on the bowl over him. 

He's going to kiss her, he decides.

It's been on his mind for a while. He is constantly replaying the kiss from the Yankees game in his head. He longs for it. The feeling of her lips against his. How she grasped his shirt and the image in his head of her fingers grasping his hair.

Rey keeps her eyes on him while she grabs the blue dye. Ben watches as she squeezes two drops into the milk. Then when she grabs the red dye and repeats her actions. 

She leans closer to him, her grasp tightening in his own. 

"That's all the color you want to add?" Ben asks, his voice low and quiet. He uses his free hand to grab the yellow dye and adds a few drops. "What about the soap?"

Rey turns her head to look at him. She's so close to him it would take just a little movement to dip his head down and kiss her. He wants to kiss her again. She grabs the soap bottle that's next to his arm, brushing her fingers along the skin that's exposed from where he rolled the sleeves of his shirt up. 

She doesn't take her eyes off of his when she tips the bottle upside down and squeezes so that a few drops of soap fall into the bowl.

Rey's gaze drops from his eyes to his lips. He isn’t surprised when she closes the distance and presses her lips against his. 

Ben closes his eyes and kisses her back. Neither of them watch the dye and the soap interact, but Ben can imagine the way the colors would dance in his mind and knows that kissing Rey is a much better use of his time. 

Rey deepens the kiss, one hand resting on the nape of his neck, her fingers twisting into the strands of his hair.

When they finally pull away from each other, Ben rests his forehead against hers and she's smiling at him. She looks so thrilled and happy and it does something to Ben's heart to see that look on her face as a direct result of him. 

It is possible that he's more than just a little gone for her already.

"So," Rey says, pressing her lips to his cheek before dropping her hand against his neck and standing up. "Where are those poster board supplies?"

***

"I can't believe your guys engagement party is tomorrow," Rey says, grabbing a bottle of water out of the fridge. 

Rose's face lights up the second Rey says the word engagement and it makes Rey so happy to see her friend so joyful. 

"Don't tell Kaydel," Rose whispers, leaning in closer to Rey. "But I haven't figured my speech out yet at all. At first I thought maybe she wasn't serious about it. But she's been working on hers so diligently and now I have no idea what I'm going to do. Or say."

Rey takes a drink of her water. "You're going to be fine. Just speak from your heart and you it'll be great. Better than great."

"What if it's bad?" Rose shakes her head. "I don't want to let her down. I swear we are doing traditional vows. I don't know if I can do this again."

Rey hates seeing Rose this insecure. It's so different than how she usually comes across. Rose has always been confident and sure of herself. 

"Hey," Rey reaches out, placing her hand on Rose's arm, gently squeezing it. "I promise if it starts to get bad I'll make a big scene and get everyone to focus on me instead."

"I love you," Rose grins, her eyes a little watery. "Seriously. I hope you are ready for a lifetime of me needing you around."

Rey pulls Rose in for a hug. "Wouldn't have it any other way," Rey whispers, her voice cracking a bit at the end. "I'm so glad Kay found you."

"Guys!" Kaydel shouts as she walks into the kitchen.

Rey lets go of Rose, taking a step back and wiping at her eyes.

Kaydel frowns, looking between Rey and Rose. "What's going on in here? Why are you guys crying?"

"No reason," Rey says, stepping forward to wrap an arm around Kaydel's waist. "We were just talking about your engagement party and I got emotional. I'm so happy for you guys."

Kaydel does not look like she believes Rey at all, but Rey is glad when she lets it go, wrapping an arm back around Rey. 

"So, you going to tell me what you were doing at work until 1 am for the first time in weeks?" Kaydrl asks and Rey hates how knowing she sounds. It’s almost as if she somehow knows that she was late for non work reasons. "Amilyn keeping you too busy?"

Rey rolls her eyes and looks over to Rose for help. 

"Don't look at me like that," Rose laughs, pointing her finger at Rey. "We both know you're keeping something from us."

"My money is on Ben," Kaydel announces, bumping her hip against Rey's. "Were you hooking up with him? Is that way you were so happy when you came home?"

"We did not hook up," Rey says quickly. "It was just a kiss."

"I knew it!" Kaydel let's go of Rey, pumping her fists into the air. "I totally called this."

Rey rolls her eyes, one hand resting on her hip as she watches Kaydel dance around the small kitchen. Rose is laughing, letting Kaydel pull her into a dance. 

"I'm bringing him tomorrow." Rey watches as Kaydel's smile grows, excitement practically beaming from every inch of her body. 

"This is not enough advance warning," Kaydel puts a finger up to her mouth, making an exaggerated thoughtful face. "I need at least 3 days to come up with a full list of interrogation questions to make sure he's good enough for you."

"Why do you think I'm telling you now?" Rey laughs at the fake look of hurt that crosses Kaydel's face. "Besides, you'll be too busy being all coupley and in love and celebrating your engagement to ask my boy… Ben anything."

Rose's eyes light up at Rey's almost slip up. "We both know Kaydel is capable of doing all of that and interrogating Ben at the same time."

Rey tips her head back and takes a deep breath. 

Rose is absolutely right. Kaydel is perfectly capable of doing that.

Tomorrow night is going to be interesting. 

"Let’s see if I make it through his mom's lunch first," Rey says after a moment, looking back at Kaydel and Rose. "Maybe he'll be sick of me and won't come."

"Nah," Kaydel shakes her head. "He'll be there. And I can't wait to meet him."

***

Rey looks at the apartment numbers once she finishes walking up the stairs to Ben's floor. She's still a little surprised to see how dingy the hallway looks. Ben had told her about how determined he was to make it on his own and to not his family's name or trust funds, but it still surprises her to see it. 

It's strange to Rey how adamant Ben is to make something of himself without help from his family. Especially with how close he is to his parents. Since she doesn't have a family to rely on or ask for help, Rey isn't sure what she would do in his shoes either.

She likes that about Ben though. That even though he has the means to call in favors and to have things handed to him, he wants to earn it. 

She knocks on the door, pulling down on the hem of the pale yellow sundress that she picked out for Leia's party and adjusting the strap of the larger bag on her shoulder. She's hoping Ben won't mind if she leaves the bag here so she can change before they go to Kaydel's engagement party. 

The door opens and Rey doesn't recognize the man standing in front of her. It must be Poe. Ben's told her a little bit about his roommate and Rey has been a little nervous to meet him. 

"You must be Rey," he says with a big smile, stepping back so Rey can walk inside. "I'm Poe."

"It's nice to meet you," Rey says, returning his smile. Her nerves start to settle when Poe closes the door and leads her over to the living room.

"Ben has told me almost nothing about you," Poe admits as he sits down on the chair across from the couch. "But he's been happier than I've seen him in a really long time these past couple of weeks. I have a feeling you have quite a bit to do with that."

Rey blushes, dropping her gaze down to the coffee table. "I mean, it could have to do with the fact that my plan worked and our bosses haven't been up our asses every second of the day too."

"Nah," Poe brushes off her comment. "Ben is addicted to his work. Whether or not he likes to admit it. The good mood has definitely got to be because of you."

"I'll take your word for it." Rey gives Poe a tight smile in concession. "How long have you known Ben?"

"Practically our entire lives. Our parents were friends. We grew up together. Went to college together. We've basically never really been apart."

"So, you're who I need to talk to to get all the good embarrassing childhood stories."

Poe laughs, the corners of his eyes crinkling as he tips his head back. "Oh I've got plenty of those, but Leia tells them the best. She's going to have the time of her life talking to you today."

Rey takes a sharp breath when Poe says Leia's name. The nerves that had been calming down flaring back to life in her stomach.

"I'm a little nervous." Rey bites down on her bottom lip. "To meet her. And Han. And you, actually. I've never really done the meet the friends and the family of someone that I…" 

Rey lets her sentence trail off, unsure of how to phrase how she feels about Ben. Poe gives her an understanding look, and leans forward to rest his hand on top of hers.

"They are going to love you," he says and it sounds like a promise. "I already love you. You have nothing to worry about. And if you start to feel nervous, just come find me. I'm bringing my boyfriend, Finn, today to meet everyone too. So, you're not the only one that's a little bit nervous."

Rey gives him a grateful smile. "Where is Ben anyway?"

"Showering," Poe answers. "He should be done soon."

"So, what do you do?"

"I'm an art teacher." Poe practically beams with his answer. "I work mostly with middle schoolers. I'm a float teacher, so I don't work at just one school. Which honestly is kind of great. I love getting to work with so many different students."

"That sounds wonderful."

"What about you? I mean, I know you're an assistant now, but what's the end goal?"

"I want to write articles," Rey gives a small shrug. "I was hoping to use some of this extra time lately to write, but I've been a little busy between my friend's engagement and well…"

Rey gets flustered as she thinks of all of the time she's been spending with Ben lately. 

Poe's grin grows wider and Rey knows that he has figured it out.

The door behind Rey opens and she turns around to find Ben walking out of what she assumes is his bedroom. 

It's the most dressed down she's ever seen Ben. Ben looks amazing in a suit, but there's something about the way the dark blue jeans fit to his body that is grossly unfair. The light blue, short sleeved button down shirt he is wearing looks stretched across his chest. He's holding wrapping paper in one hand and a book in the other.

"Hey," Ben says and there's that small smile he seems to reserve for her crossing his face. "You're here early."

Ben walks toward Rey, leaning down and pressing a kiss to her forehead. Rey can see Poe's eyes widen slightly out of the corner of her vision. Ben straightens and heads into the kitchen.

"No suit today?" Rey teases as she watches Ben move around the kitchen. "Are you feeling a little ill?"

Poe snickers before joining in. "I mean I know your mom said the party was going to be casual, but are you sure showing off that much arm isn't just a little too casual?"

"I can go change," Ben deadpans, glaring at Poe, but there’s no heat in his gaze. "I have a nice three piece suit that I look fantastic in."

"Does it also have short sleeves?" Rey asks, tilting her head to the side. "Cause really it's a crime that you cover up those arms every day."

"I've been trying to tell him that for years," Poe adds, standing from the chair and moving to sit next to Rey on the couch. He leans his head onto her shoulder. "You should see him in shorts. Those thighs."

Ben looks like he's in pain, standing at the kitchen counter trying to wrap Leia's present. "You two are not allowed to be friends. I thought this was decided."

"I didn’t agree to that," Rey grins, looking sideways at Poe. "Did you agree to that?"

"I made a life vow when I was 6 to never agree with Ben Solo." 

Rey laughs as she watches Ben roll his eyes. 

"This is going to be such a long day." Ben sighs, placing the final piece of tape on the present. "Shall we go? Or are we waiting for Finn to meet us here."

Poe stands up, holding his hand out for Rey and helping her up from the couch. "I was hoping you wouldn't mind stopping by his place and picking him up. It’s on the way out of the city."

"I don't mind," Ben says a smirk on his face as he holds the door open for Poe and Rey. "I'm looking forward to meeting your boyfriend. I'm going to need someone on my side today."

Poe heads down the stairs, but Rey lingers behind waiting for Ben to finish locking the door. She reaches for his hand once he's done. 

"I'm on your side," Rey says quietly, enjoying the way Ben's face softens at her words. "But that doesn't mean I'm not going to egg your mom on if she starts pulling out baby pictures or good stories."

Ben shakes his head in amusement. "Just remember that I'm going to meet Kaydel and Rose tonight and I'm sure they've got some great stories about you."

Ben kisses her then, and it is short and sweet and just familiar enough to make Rey ache and want more. 

"C'mon," Ben tugs on her hand. "We don't want to be late."


	5. Chapter Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This next chapter is probably one of my favorites. Chapter updates might be a little slower from here on out. I'm almost done with chapter 6, but work has been a nightmare and I have had a hard time finding time to write lately.

The drive to his parents' house is relatively smooth. Ben's pleasantly surprised when Poe is sitting in the backseat already waiting for them once they get down to the car.

They pick Finn up, and Rey holds Ben's hand while they drive through the city. Ben's a little relieved that Rey seems to be fine with the small public displays of affection in front of Poe at least. He had worried when he had kissed her forehead when he saw her that it was too much. He just hadn't thought it through. He wasn't expecting her there that early, and then she was there and beautiful, wearing a dress he knew that she had spent too much time picking out because she wanted to impress his parents. 

And well. How was he not supposed to kiss her?

Poe and Rey tease him, easily falling into a banter that Ben knows is only going to grow stronger the more time they spend together. The thought doesn't bother him as much as he expects it too. 

Finn seems nice. He's a little quiet at first, but Rey seems to notice and starts asking him questions about his life and what he does for a living and how he met Poe. She goes from one question to the next, listening and answering Finn's questions with an ease that Ben has never known. Despite every effort of his parents, Ben is rather terrible with people.

Small talk is painful for him. He is too busy practicing answers to unasked questions in his head to always listen well when others are still talking. 

It's a little amazing watching Rey excel at it. Not that he is surprised. He's seen Rey around people before, hell he's been a new person around her. There isn't a doubt in his mind that if Ben hadn't have been quite so insufferable the first few times they talked that Rey would have won him over right away. 

She's rather amazing like that. 

Ben's glad that Poe is bringing Finn and tells him that once they park down the block from his parents and start walking toward the house. 

"Maybe we should have a code word," Ben offers to Poe. "In case Leia goes too far and we need a distraction to stop the conversation."

Poe just stares at him for a second before rolling his eyes and clapping his hand on Ben's shoulder. "It is very cute that you think in any world I am going to be stopping Leia from talking to Rey and not egging her on."

"It's a two way street," Ben reminds him, trying to stop himself from smiling as Rey slides her hand into his. "I can also egg my mom on with Finn."

"I think I'll take my chances." Poe grins and his face screams mischief and Ben knows that Poe is probably going to do more than just egg Leia on. 

"Fuck," Ben mutters, stopping once they get to the driveway. "I left the present in the car. You guys go in, I'll be right back."

“I’ll go with you,” Rey says, her grip tightening around Ben’s hand. 

Ben watches as Poe and Finn walk the rest of the way up the driveway and into the house.

“I like them.” Rey smiles at Ben once they turn around and start walking back toward the car. “You and Poe are so different though. It’s hard imagining the two of you growing up together and being best friends” 

Ben laughs, tipping his head back. “My mom likes to say we balance each other out.”

“I can see that.”

Ben let’s go of Rey’s hand to dig the keys out of his jacket pocket and opens the trunk and grabs the present. 

"You okay?" Ben asks, closing the trunk before resting one hand on Rey's lower back. Her nose is scrunched up and she's got one arm loosely crossed against her stomach. "You look… nervous?"

"I am nervous, Ben," Rey laughs in amusement. "I'm going to meet your parents on our first date. That's… a lot."

"Is it too much?" Ben runs his hand up her spine. "We can leave. I'll drive you back home."

"Absolutely not!" Rey quickly says, reaching for Ben's hand. "You're not missing your mom's birthday lunch because I'm a little nervous."

"Might be more fun," Ben offers, tugging gently on Rey's hand until she is pressed against him. "This doesn't have to be a date if it's too much or it can be a date but not our first one."

Rey snorts, shaking her head a bit. "How would that work exactly? A date but not our first date? Have we been going on dates without me knowing?"

Ben doesn't say anything for a moment, instead focusing on the way Rey wraps an arm around his waist and buries her head into his chest.

"We've done date activities before. We just didn't say they were dates."

"It does take the pressure off a little bit," Rey admits, stepping back from Ben just enough that he can look down and see the teasing way she is looking up at him. 

He leans down and kisses her. It's chaste and short and still manages to ignite something inside of him.

"Then it's settled," he says as he pulls back. "Not our first date. Maybe our fifth. Definitely enough dates to not be so nervous."

"I'm still meeting your parents, Ben." Rey rolls her eyes, taking his hand as they start walking back toward the house. "I don't think there's a magic number of dates before that isn't something to be nervous about."

"They'll love you," Ben promises, reassuringly squeezing her hand. "I've, uh, I've been talking about you with them quite a bit. I think you've already won them over. I'm more nervous over what Kaydel and Rose are going to think about me."

"Oh Kaydel has already been planning her interrogation questions for you." Rey laughs, her forehead crinkling and her eyes lighting up. "But she'll love you. She just… she wants me to be happy. And you-" Rey pauses, biting down on her lip and looking to the side. "You make me happy."

"I do?"

"Yeah," Rey squeezes his hand tight and looks over at him with a bright smile on her face, her dimples on full display. "You do."

***

The Solo’s home is absolutely breathtaking. Between the brick work, the large windows, and the smell of salt air that rolls in with the wind, Rey is a little taken aback by the thought of growing up in a place like this. 

Ben was right. His parents absolutely seem to love her. Despite this knowledge and her and Ben's earlier conversation, Rey's nerves are still a little on edge. At first, she had been careful to be extra polite and to watch the smart quips, but then Ben had said something absolutely ridiculous and Rey didn't even think before she teased him. 

Leia's laugh had been contagious and Han made a joke about understanding what Ben saw in her and Rey instantly felt more comfortable.

The fact that Han is pouring her drinks a little bit more on the heavy side than Rey thinks he is for everyone else probably helps too. Using the small straw in her glass, Rey plays with the cherry that's floating in the liquid.

They are standing around one of the many tables strewn throughout the backyard. Poe and Finn have come and gone throughout the afternoon, but Leia and Han have mostly stayed with them throughout the party, letting everyone come to them to wish Leia a happy birthday. Rey feels a little bad, monopolizing all of their attention, but no one else seems to give it much thought.

Ben seems more comfortable the longer they stay, but she can see the way his face changes just slightly whenever anyone walks up to the table, and the way his shoulders tensed until it was just them again.

"So, how did the two of you meet?" Rey asks Leia. She knows the story already. Or at least she knows what happens when you ask about the story. She had asked Ben how his parents had met during one of their early celebration dinners. He had laughed and said that he really didn't know. That he was pretty sure his parents didn't know or remember. Or that they just really enjoyed keeping it to themselves. 

All he knew was that every time someone asked them when they met, one of them would give a ridiculous story and they'd start bickering over how that wasn't quite right. 

Rey's excited to see it in person. 

Only instead of answering Leia just laughs, her eyes twinkle in the sunlight as she shakes her head. "I swear Ben, you have to stop having people ask us that question. Even your dad is starting to have a hard coming up with more elaborate tales."

"I am not," Han argues, but there's no heat to his voice. "I hear the two of you had quite the interesting first meeting."

Rey can see Ben's face redden while she rolls her eyes. "If by interesting you mean Ben was an absolute jerk, then, yes, we had quite the interesting first meeting."

"I wasn’t an absolute jerk," Ben tries to defend himself, but his lips are turned up in the corners and if Rey can see how badly he does not believe what he is saying she's not sure how he expects his parents to buy it. 

She raises an eyebrow at him, shooting him a questioning look. He runs a hand through his hair, before pulling down at the neck of his shirt. 

"An absolute jerk would have left you with no food," Ben points out, punctuating the end of his sentence with a tip of his glass in Rey's direction. "I let you keep one of the meals."

Rey's eyes narrow. "You mean you over charged me for my sandwich and then tried to add an insane amount of interest."

Ben grins. Rey can see from the corner of her vision the absolute joy on Leia and Han's face as they watch them argue. 

"I didn't say I wasn't a bit of a jerk," Ben shrugs. "Just that I wasn't an absolute jerk."

"You're lucky you're cute," Rey teases, trying to hide her smile behind her glass. "It's probably the only reason I ever talked to you again."

"Really?" Ben asks, his eyes intently searching hers as he continued, almost as if he was challenging her to something. "It had nothing to do with you wanting to go through with the most annoying loan repayment I've ever seen."

Rey giggles, ducking her head down to her chest until she stops laughing. "Not the most annoying," she finally says, looking back up at him. "It could have been pennies instead of quarters."

"You know, Ben," Han starts, pulling both Ben and Rey's attention to him. "I can see why you didn’t tell us that story when we originally asked you how you met Rey. You really do come off like a jerk, kid."

"But not an absolute jerk,” Ben adds, shooting Rey an amused look. “Which was my whole point."

Everyone laughs and Ben grabs onto her hand and pulls her in a little closer to him and Rey feels like she might burst with just how happy she feels. 

"I'm going to go grab more food," Ben says, grabbing the empty plate that is in front of him. "You want anything else?" 

"Yes, please," Rey answers, handing him her plate. "Maybe some more of those guacamole bites. If you can find them.”

“I’ll join you.” Han says as he stands, grabbing his own plate and Leia’s. “Your mom looks like she wants more of those cake pops, even if she hasn’t said anything.”

Leia watches the two of them as they walk away before settling her full attention on Rey. Rey had laughed when Ben had brought up a code word system to Poe, but now that she’s alone with Leia, she’s thinking that maybe she should have been the one offering up a code word. 

“I’m really glad you could come,” Leia says, her eyes friendly as she smiles at Rey. “I don’t even know if Ben is aware how often he has brought you up over the last few weeks when he calls. I’ve really been looking forward to meeting you.”

“Ben talks about you and Han all the time.” Rey fidgets with the tablecloth between her fingers. “When I haven’t been completely terrified of meeting you both and making a complete fool of myself, I’ve been really looking forward to this.”

“I’m thankful you didn’t let his behavior the first time you met scare you aware,” Leia laughs loudly, reaching over the table to grab Rey’s hand. “He’s a good boy. He just… hasn’t quite found his place in the world yet. I wish he’d let us help.” 

“Anyways,” Leia pulls her hand back, clapping them together. “He seems happy. I don’t, I really don’t know that I’ve ever seen Ben smile as much as I have today. And I just wanted to thank you for that.”

“It’s a little weird hearing that,” Rey admits, looking over at where Ben is standing next to Han piling food on to the plates. “I mean, Ben was a bit grumpy when we first met. But he’s always smiling.”

Leia doesn’t say anything, just gives Rey a look that has Rey fidgeting in her seat a bit and hoping that Ben will get back with the food sooner than later.

“Maybe,” Rey says after a moment, meeting Leia’s gaze. “Or maybe it’s just the reduced work hours. I’d be grumpy too if I had to spend that much time with Snoke on a daily basis.”

***

“Dad,” Ben sighs in exasperation watching as Han adds another cake pop to his mom’s plate. “I really don’t think mom wants five cake pops. If you really want to load her up on nothing but sugar, I actually think she liked the apple pie bites more.”

Han stares at Ben, slowly and in an exaggerated fashion, reaching across Ben to grab another cake pop and setting it on the plate. “Who said these are for your mom?”

“You don’t need that much sugar,” Ben reminds him. “Mom actually doesn’t need that much sugar either. Fuck, dad, I don’t think a five year old needs that much sugar.”

“You worry too much,” Han says, but he does pat Ben on the shoulder before adding a small heap of broccoli to the plate. “Better?”

Ben laughs, shaking his head. “No, you should probably put back… half of the cake pops and grab some celery and carrots instead.”

Han shrugs, adding a few apple pie bites instead. “What?” He asks defensively when Ben just looks at him. “It has fruit. That means it is practically a fruit.”

“That’s not how that works at all.”

“I’m pretty sure that was a direct quote from a seven year old Ben Solo,” Han jokes. “Are you telling me you tried to trick me as a child and weren’t all knowing like you swore?”

Ben rolls his eyes and glances down at the plates in his hand. There’s a healthy balance of fruit, vegetables and sugar on each one. “You do realize that the fact that you are quoting past me to me right now is not a very good argument? Seven year old me also thought that there were monsters in my closet.”

“There weren’t monsters in your closet?” Han fakes shock, placing one hand up to his chest. “Was that just a ruse to keep your light on so you could stay up past your bedtime reading? I had no idea.”

“You’re impossible.” Ben watches as his dad grabs a few napkins. “And you were also a pushover. Everyone always assumes it’s mom that would cave in. But no, she was never going to budge from her position. But you? All it took was a half thought out argument that I believed in 100% and you would give in. Like the time I convinced you that ice cream has milk and I wanted a fruit version so it was actually a healthier alternative to cereal.”

Han’s face brightens at the memory. “I stand by that decision actually. You made some very good arguments.” Han adds a cake pop to Rey’s plate. Ben raises his eyebrow at his dad in question. “What? Girl seems like she has a sweet tooth too.”

He’s not wrong.

They walk back over to Leia and Rey. Rey smiles up at him appreciatively when he sets the plate down in front of her. Han’s face is overly delighted when she grabs the cake pop first, and moves some of the vegetables off of her plate and onto Ben’s in exchange for one of the cookies he had grabbed.

“What?” Rey asks, narrowing her eyes in confusion as she looks between Ben and Han. She takes a bite from the cake pop and Ben hates how adorable the half smile that immediately takes over there face makes her look. “Did I do something?”

“No,” Ben reassures her, reaching up with his thumb to wipe away at some of the cake crumbs that fell onto her chin. “We do need to leave soon if you are still planning on changing before Kaydel’s party.”

“Right.” Rey finishes the rest of the cake pop. “That and I’m sure some of the guests might actually like to spend some time with the birthday girl. I feel like I’ve been monopolizing your time this entire day.”

“Nonsense.” Leia eats one of the apple pie bites. “It’s my birthday and I’ve spent it exactly where I have wanted to spend it.”

Rey doesn’t look like she knows quite what to do with that information and just nods. Ben reaches down under the table and takes her hand. She turns her head and smiles at him, squeezing his hand tighter.

“Maybe next time Ben comes out for dinner you’ll be able to join him?” Han asks, sliding another cake pop onto Rey’s plate. “You’re welcome anytime.”

Rey beams at Han, lifting up the cake pop he’d just sat down up to tap it against Han’s.

“As long as Ben wants me to come,” Rey says, looking over at Ben. “I’ll be here.”

“Then we’ll see you next time for dinner,” Han decides, taking a drink from his glass. 

Normally, this entire conversation is something that would drive Ben a little bit crazy. He hates when his parents meddle. He hates when they get pushy and over involve themselves in his life. 

But Rey is smiling and laughing and holding his hand and agreeing to come with him to dinner at his parents’ house again sometime in the future. 

And Ben really can’t find it in himself to be frustrated at all when that’s the outcome.

***

Rey leans against the banister at the top of the staircase waiting for Ben to unlock the door to his apartment. They had dropped Poe and Finn off at Finn’s apartment on the way back from Leia’s party. The rest of the drive had been relatively quiet with just the two of them. 

“What time are we supposed to be at Kaydel’s?” Ben asks as he pushes the door open and walks into the apartment. “I wasn’t sure how long it would take you to get ready. I hope we left early enough.”

“We have plenty of time,” Rey laughs as she follows Ben, closing the door behind her. “It doesn’t start until 8. It’s 5:30. We probably could have stayed longer at your mom’s party. I feel a little bad pulling you out so early.”

“Don’t.” Ben brushes a piece of hair behind Rey’s ear. “I think that’s the longest I’ve ever stayed at one of those parties. Being around all of those people isn’t exactly my favorite thing. I’d rather be there when it’s just my parents, playing cards, watching them argue over a crossword puzzle.”

“I really like them,” Rey says, placing a hand on Ben’s waist. “Your parents. They were very nice.”

“I told you they’d like you.” Ben runs his hands down her shoulders and her arms, until they settle against her hips. “And you were worried.”

Rey just smiles as she leans up to kiss him. 

Rey likes this. Being able to stand in Ben’s kitchen and kiss him just because it’s something that she wants to do. 

Ben deepens the kiss, pulling Rey’s body flush against his. Rey runs her fingers through his hair, tugging slightly at the ends, before she moves her fingers to trace the shell of his ear. 

Rey whines in protest when Ben breaks the kiss. Ben kisses her forehead, a huff of laughter falling from his throat when he takes a step back.

“We should, uh, probably change.” He sounds flustered as he takes a step back from Rey, his hands still warm against her lower back. “Can’t have you be late to your best friend’s engagement party.”

“Right,” Rey says, but she’s already moving toward Ben, lifting up on her tiptoes to kiss him again. She doesn’t bother to hide the small moan that builds in her throat when Ben wraps his arms around her tighter, pulling her off the ground slightly while he tries to keep his balance. 

He walks her back, one hand slipping under her dress, until her back is pressed against the kitchen counter. 

Rey groans, tilting her head back when Ben breaks the kiss, moving his hand from her back to her stomach, tracing the line of her hip bone with his fingers. Ben’s lips move from her own to the side of her neck, sucking gently on the skin at the juncture of her neck and collarbone. 

Rey puts her fingers under Ben’s chin, guiding him back up to her mouth before she starts to work on unbuttoning Ben’s shirt. 

Rey pushes his shirt off once she gets the last button undone, running her hands down his chest, desperate to feel him. She pulls back from the kiss this time, breathing heavily, opening her eyes so that she can see him. 

It really is a little unfair just how gorgeous he is standing in front of her. His eyes darken as he watches her look at him. She smiles slightly as she leans forward and presses a kiss to his chest, just above his heart. 

She knows that they need to stop, even if she really doesn’t want to. There isn’t enough time for them to keep going unless she really wants to be late to Kaydel’s party.

Rey considers, briefly, whether or not Kaydel would mind her being late if it’s because she couldn’t keep her hands off of Ben.

It’s a really, really tempting thought.

Ben’s fingers haven’t stilled against her skin, his breath is heavy against her neck as he leaves a trail of kisses along her collarbone. He runs his finger just above the hem of her underwear.

And Rey knows that if they don’t stop now, there’s a good chance they won’t leave the apartment at all that night.

“So,” she starts, taking a sharp breath. Ben stills underneath her, pulling away his hands, and slowly, slowly steps back. He sets his hands against the counter next to her and Rey can’t help but lean up to give him one more kiss. “Where should I get dressed?”

“I was thinking right here worked,” Ben teases, his gaze intense as he runs his fingers along the fabric of her dress, over her hips and down her thighs. “I can even help.”

Rey nods, capturing his lips again with her own. She’s grinning too much for the kiss, but Ben doesn’t seem to mind when she slides her fingers into his belt loops and tries to pull him even closer to her. 

“Help is good,” Rey murmurs against his lips. “I was probably going to need your help getting into my dress anyway. The zipper tends to get stuck.”

Ben brushes his nose against Rey’s and she closes her eyes, letting herself just enjoy the way he makes her feel. He lifts her up, his hands strong against the back of her thighs, and sets her down on the edge of the countertop. Rey wraps her legs around his waist, instinctively moving her hips until she’s pressing her core against his hardening length. Ben groans, his breath hot and heavy against her neck. Rey repeats the action, pressing her heels against his ass for leverage.

The countertop is a much, much better height for this.

“I guess we need to get you out of this dress,” Ben says, his voice deep, almost breathless, and Rey’s stomach swoops. “I did say I would be helpful.”

“Okay.” Rey lifts her arms above her head, gently biting on her bottom lip as she waits for Ben to pull her dress up.

Only he doesn’t.

At least, not right away.

Instead, he places his hands on her knees, spreading her legs a little more. He doesn’t do anything for a moment, just stands in between her legs and rests his forehead against hers and looks at her like he’s trying to memorize how she looks. 

Which, Rey supposes is sweet, but she doesn’t exactly want sweet at the moment. So she tips her head back until she’s at enough of an angle that she can kiss him. She swallows the tiny sound of surprise from Ben and lowers her arms to wrap them around his wide shoulders. She moans when she deepens the kiss, digging her nails into his shoulder. 

Finally, he seems to get the message and starts tracing spiral designs up the insides of her thigh. He carries on drawing the design against her skin and doesn’t stop when he reaches her underwear, lightly circles over the fabric.

“You’re a tease,” Rey complains, trying to lift her hips, seeking more pressure.

“You’re impatient.” Ben nips at the side of her neck. “Don’t you want to be a good girl for me and stay still?”

Blushing at his words, Rey nods. Because yes. She really does want that.

Another moment passes where all Ben does is trace small circles against hers. It’s almost maddening, staying still for the tiny hints of pleasure when her body desperately wants her to seek more.

Finally, Ben pushes her underwear to the side and slides one finger inside of her. He pumps once, twice, and then he adds another finger.

Rey’s eyes flutter shut. She had been right in her fantasies, Ben’s fingers were long and thick and felt amazing. He seems to know just how fast to go to easily bring her to the edge and tease her with pleasure. She could easily get lost in just how good this feels, but…

His hand stills.

Rey has to bite her tongue to stop herself from actually whining out loud. 

“Keep your eyes open, sweetheart,” Ben croons, softly dragging his thumb over her clit. “I want to see you when you fall apart on my fingers.”

Rey takes a deep breath and opens her eyes, giving Ben a small nod as she holds his gaze. He smiles at her and begins fucking her with his fingers again. 

She’s getting close and she knows it, her eyelids are heavy and it takes almost all of her energy to keep her eyes even half open as he keeps going. He is a fast learner, she can tell that he adjusts his movements and speed based on the noises escaping her throat.

“You look so beautiful like this,” Ben whispers, adding a third finger. “You’re beautiful all the time, really, but like this… you’re exquisite like this.”

Really, it should be embarrassing how easily she comes after that. 

Ben works her through her orgasm, before resting his fingers against her thighs again. They are wet and sticky against her skin and Rey doesn’t care at all when she brings her lips to his again.

She giggles against his mouth as she tries to unbutton his jeans, but her brain is still a little too foggy and her body a little too limbless to be able to control her fingers enough to be successful. It’s a little absurd, being this blissful and still mostly completely dressed.

“I thought you were going to help me get undressed,” Rey teases, placing small kisses along Ben’s jaw and cheek. “I still seem to be wearing all of my clothes.” 

Rey lifts her arms above her head again and she watches as he laughs, his entire face softening as he smiles at her.

Ben pulls the dress over her head, holding the fabric in his hands as he steps away and she can see him looking for the bag she left by the couch before they left earlier.

“You said the zipper gets stuck?” He asks, and Rey watches as he finds her bag and opens it, pulling out the green dress for the engagement party, and placing the old dress into the bag.“I think I can help with that.” 

***

Rey slowly lowers herself off the counter, giving Ben a small, nervous smile as he freezes and just looks at her.

He hadn't paid much attention before to what she had on underneath her dress. Especially since he had left her dress on until the end. 

Now though, he is able to take her in. The lacy, dark navy boy shorts she has on stands out against her skin. The bra has the same lacy pattern for straps, but the actual cups are a sheer blue with very carefully placed bunches of lace that resemble flowers. And while he can't see her nipples through the patterns, he can make out the peaks that are forming against the flowers the longer he stares at her.

He doesn't fully process that he's moving toward her, draping her dress over his shoulder and bending down to nip at her through the material until Rey is laughing above him, her hands weaving into the strands of his hair.

The way she scratches at his scalp and sighs his name when he brings a hand up to palm her breast almost pushes him over from being able to recognize that they actually do need to get ready for the party and from being lost in complete need to devour her.

He pulls back slightly, resting his head against her chest and takes a moment to catch his breath. He kisses her skin before he stands up and fans the dress out in front of her.

"I'm not doing a very good job at helping you get dressed," Ben admits. A part of him swells with pride when Rey immediately steps closer to him, her fingers finding his pants and pulling him closer to her. Her mouth is hot and wet when she sets it on his neck and Ben swears when she sucks lightly, her fingers brushing along his hip bone. 

"You were doing a great job." Rey moves her hand to cover his and pulls it back up to her chest. "My dress only has one sleeve."

She says this like it's an explanation, but she's pressing her chest into his hand and her mouth is parting and Ben really has no idea what her dress sleeves have to do with this conversation. 

His confusion must be noticeable because she moves his hand slightly until his fingers are resting on the front clasp of her bra. 

"I can't wear my bra," she explains.

"I can help with that," Ben nods, dropping to his knees so that his face is level with her breasts. He uses both of his hands to take the plastic clasp apart before slowly pulling the straps down her arms and tossing her bra in the general direction of her bag. 

"Such a good helper," Rey coos, her light laughter becoming a small moan when Ben sucks her nipple into his mouth. 

Her hands cradle his head gently as he explores her chest with his mouth. He takes his time, letting her guide him occasionally to where she wants him to pay attention. 

It's dangerous how easily he knows he could get lost in her. All he wants is to keep his mouth and attention on her until he knows exactly what to do to make her come apart.

"You say that now," Ben kisses her temple. "But you'll regret not being there. This can wait, I'm not going anywhere."

Rey's eyes widen and darken just a bit more when he says that. He watches her squish her nose up and open her mouth a few times and he knows that some part of her wants to argue. She looks at him like he is going to disappear right before her and she needs to hang on to him to keep him there with her.

He waits for her to voice her worries, to push for them to continue. 

Instead, she nods, her eyes on his as she gives him a tight smile.

"You better not." 

"I won't." He moves the dress until he can find the zipper and pulls it down. He maneuvers them around until he is standing in front of the counter and Rey is turned around in front of him. He holds the dress out for Rey to step into it.

"Good," she breathes while Ben pulls the dress up over her hips and slides her arm into the one sleeve. "Because I have many, many plans for you."

"Oh, really?" Ben asks, pulling up on the zipper resting at her lower back. He pushes against her shoulder until she turns around. He takes a moment to admire the way her body moves and feel under his fingers.

"Mhmm," Rey hums. "Maybe if you hurry up and finish zipping up this dress, I'll have time to show you."

The zipper snags then and Ben lowers his eyes to look down to find what it caught on. 

"Because once this dress is on me, Ben," Rey continues, her voice low. Ben pulls the zipper down, he can see the small bunch of loose string that is causing the zipper to get stuck. "I'm going to drop to my knees, take you in my mouth and I'm not going to stop until I've swallowed every last drop of your come."

"Jesus," Ben groans, his hips grinding against Rey's ass, he drops the zipper as he presses his hands into her hips and pushes her back against him. He kisses the nape of her neck. "Keep talking like that and I'm not sure zipping up your dress is going to be high on my list of priorities."

Rey moans when Ben traces the shell of her ear with his tongue. 

"But if you don't finish getting me dressed, I won't be able to show you how much I appreciate it."

"You might be the death of me," Ben whispers into her skin before taking a deep breath and stepping back. He grabs onto the zipper and finds the loose bundle of string again and pushes at the bit of string until it's out of the way and he is able to pull the zipper up the rest of the way.

The speed in which Rey turns around, pushes him against the counter, undoes his pants and falls to her knees is enough to take his breath away.

But then she's pushing his pants and boxers down in one movement and running her hand along his length before taking him into her mouth.

And Ben isn't sure he even knows what air is needed for anymore. He's pretty sure that everything he needs is currently taking his cock deep into her throat and digging her fingers into his thighs.

He tangles his fingers into her hair, scratching at her scalp the same way she had at his own earlier. Rey hums her approval, the vibrations pulsing around him when he begins to thrust.

It doesn't take long before he feels the familiar tingle in his spine and he knows that he isn't going to last much longer.

"Rey," Ben tries to warn her, his movements getting more and more erratic as he gets closer. Rey just hums again and he comes with her name falling from his lips like a prayer.

His eyes are still closed when he feels her lips ghost along his hip bone and when he finally opens his eyes she's standing in front of him, adjusting her dress and smiling at him.

"So, you going to finish getting dressed or what?" Rey teases, stretching up to kiss the corner of his mouth. "We don’t want to be late."

Ben is more than a little dumbstruck as he watches her turn around to get her bag. He still hasn't moved when she bends down and grabs a smaller bag out of the bag next to the couch and heads toward his bathroom.

He takes another deep breath, his fingers clenching around the edge of the countertop behind him, before grabbing his clothes from the floor and heading to his bedroom. 

She really might be the death of him.


	6. Chapter Six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This update took way longer than I thought it was going to take. Between work and life and the world, I just got really distracted. I hope you guys do enjoy this chapter though! We are coming into the last little bit here, and I am really excited for it.

They are only fifteen minutes late to the engagement party. And really, Ben thinks, that’s not so bad since Rey decided to show Ben just how much she appreciated his help.

He’s still not sure how exactly he got lucky enough that this is how he gets to spend a Saturday, but he's not complaining.

Rey's holding his hand, and pointing at the fairy lights that are strung across the roof. She's got the biggest smile on her face and he knows that she is talking, he can see her lips moving and can almost make out a few words. But the music is loud and, somehow, the people around them are even louder and Ben's a little too distracted trying to follow Rey as she pulls him along the roof and by how the green of her dress seems darker against her skin than it does off of her.

He's more than a little bit gone for her. He realizes this. But it still seems a little over the top just how distracted she manages to make him feel.

Rey doesn't let go of his hand until they are standing at the front of the bar. There's a picture of Kaydel and Rose in a lighted frame in between the shelves of liquor and it’s a little cheesy and yet not unexpected at all.

Overall, looking around the room, there's not a lot of emphasis on Rose and Kaydel as a couple. Of the few engagement parties Ben has attended, this one has far less 'look at us and let us shove our love down your throats' vibes and much more 'you already know us come celebrate us' vibes.

He's surprised at how much he prefers that. 

Rey places her hand on his shoulder, pulling him out of his thoughts and putting his attention back on her.

She laughs softly. "Did you hear anything that I've said?"

"Absolutely not." Ben grins, setting a hand on her lower back. "It's louder than I thought it would be for a rooftop. And you-" Ben slowly moves his eyes down her body, enjoying the way Rey blushes as he slowly takes her in. "look very distracting."

“You’re the one that pointed out I’d probably regret not coming tonight,” Rey reminds him. She runs her fingers down the drink menu that’s on the bar. 

“You would have,” Ben says, moving to stand behind her, wrapping his arm around her waist. He leans his head over her shoulder to read the menu with her. 

Ben snorts when he reads some of the names.

Mint-to-be Mojito

Bloody Marry Me

Kaydel Loves Rosé All Day, Every Day

Rey giggles when she orders the wine. Rey’s laugh is quickly replacing all of Ben’s previous favorite noises.

Ben starts to order a Something Old Fashioned because it seems like the most straightforward, easy drink to order, but Rey’s shaking her head as soon as he starts his order.

“Absolutely not,” Rey interrupts him, and the bartender is giving them an amused look. “It’s an engagement party, Ben, drink something fun. I dare you.”

Ben rolls his eyes, and even though Rery can’t see him, she still swats at his arm and he laughs, grabbing her hand and intertwining their fingers before resting their hands back on her stomach. 

“Fine,” Ben grumbles, looking down over the menu again. “Is a Vodka Rose-Marry Me Lemonade fun enough?”

“Yes,” Rey nods and the bartender walks away to begin making their drink. Rey pulls her hand away and turns around, wrapping her arms around his waist. She leans up and kisses him. “And it’ll be much yummier when I steal it from you.”

“I knew you had ulterior motives.”

Rey pushes her nose up and grins at him. “I really can’t be trusted.”

“She really can’t,” a voice Ben doesn’t know interrupts them, but judging by the squeal that Rey makes and the speed in which she is out of his arms and pulling a short, blonde girl to her leads him to believe that this is Kaydel.

“Kay!” Rey exclaims, her arms wrapped tightly around her friend. “Where’s Rose? I wanted to introduce you both to Ben at the same time.”

“She’s still over there with Paige,” Kaydel waves her hand in such a wide gesture that Ben can’t tell where she is trying to indicate at all. “They’ll be forever. You’ll just have to settle for me.”

Kaydel seems to focus her whole attention on Ben then, her gaze steady and a little scary in how intense she is while she takes him in. He’s not usually the most confident in his appearance. He knows that he can come across intimidating. He’s a little too tall, a little too broad, really, just a little too big to make most people feel comfortable. 

But he’s with Rey and his shirt matches her dress and she’s been looking at him like he’s something that not only wants but craves, and he assumes that whatever Rey sees in him, Kaydel will see too.

Kaydel gives him a small nod and a smile and then she’s letting go off Rey and pulling Ben down to hug her. 

Ben isn’t sure if it’s because he’s surprised by the act or if Kaydel is freakishly strong, but she has no problem pulling him down. 

“I’m Kaydel,” she introduces herself, wrapping an arm back around Rey’s waist, but she keeps her other hand on his forearm. “Rey has been talking about you nonstop since you stole her dinner--”

“I didn’t steal--” Ben starts to interrupt her, but both Rey and Kaydel raise an eyebrow and look at him, and Ben realizes that he is very much out numbered and he probably doesn’t need to start a losing battle.

Especially when, yeah, okay, maybe he did steal her dinner.

“You stole her dinner,” Kaydel states, shrugging her shoulders. “But you guys have clearly moved past that.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” Ben says. “Congratulations on the engagement.”

“Thank you.” Kaydel shines with happiness at his words. “I still can’t believe it is happening.”

The bartender sets his and Rey’s drinks down on the bar next to Rey. Rey hands Ben his drink and grins at him as he taps his glass to hers and takes a drink of the overly sweet beverage. It may be sweeter than he originally wanted, but he does have to admit that it tastes… really good.

“Do you have a date set?” Ben asks Kaydel, taking another small drink. 

“Early December,” Kaydel answers, bumping her hip against Rey’s. “Maybe I’ll see you there.”

Rey chokes on her drink and glares at Kaydel. Ben runs his hand down her spine, gently patting her back, giving her a reassuring smile.

He can’t help hoping that he will see Kaydel then.

The soft look that Rey gives Ben makes him think that she’s hoping the same thing too. 

“Maybe you will,” Rey says, her shoulders lifting in a small shrug. “We’ll see.”

Kaydel just smiles, looking between the two of them and finishing her drink. She sets the empty glass on the bar counter, nodding at the bartender’s unasked question. Ben watches as he pours another glass of wine. 

“I like the name.” Ben nods toward her glass. “Very catchy.”

“It’s very true.” Kaydel laughs. “And now, I need to go give a very impressive speech about just how in love with her I am.”

***

Kaydel looks stunning. The pale yellow dress that she’s wearing has just enough sparkle in it to shine under the string of lights above the stage that she is standing on. Rey knows that even though she has been putting on a confident front about her speech, that she was just as worried about delivering it as Rose. 

“I met Rose when she was in her first year of med school,” Kaydel starts, swaying slightly as everyone starts paying attention to her. “Not exactly the best time to start a new relationship. We tried just being friends at first, but we were absolutely terrible at it. I knew even then that Rose was all that I wanted. I still remember when we got into this huge fight because I wanted more and she wasn’t sure that she had the time to make a relationship work. It was scary, the idea that I was going to lose her before I even really had a chance to have her. But we made it work. Obviously.”

Rey joins the crowd and laughs. She remembers that fight. How distraught Kaydel had been the days leading up to it, trying to figure out how she could make Rose decide that it was worth the risk. Rey had spent hours convincing Kaydel that it was worth the risk.

“Rose and I are very different. We always have been. She was a serious medical student. Always studying and organizing her notes. I don’t think she’s ever missed a day of class. Then there was me. I went to college to party and figured maybe if I learned a thing or two while I was there it would be worth the cost of tuition. I never made it to class on time. Someone once convinced me to take an 8 am class and I’m pretty sure the professor assumed I was someone else because I don’t recall ever actually making it to the class.”

Rey chortles, leaning her head against Ben’s shoulder. Rey had signed her up for that class. It was a creative writing class. Kaydel definitely never saw the inside of that classroom. 

“When I was younger, my grandmother used to tell me that you like because and you love despite. Rose and I do not work on paper. She’s a workaholic. Her idea of a great night is curling up with a book on her couch and going to bed by nine. She listens to classical music when she’s cooking. She can’t stand watching romantic comedies with me because she cries during movies not when something sad has actually happened, but because the characters got a happy ending. She can’t help but show off her favorite gross pictures of surgeries to everyone she meets.” Kaydel crinkles her nose as she laughs. “It’s really disgusting and it drives me a bit crazy. And yet, I love the way her face lights up because she sees something that she got to fix. Someone she got to help.”

Kaydel’s eyes are shining a bit and her cheeks are flushed as she shakes her head in amusement. Rey glances over at Rose to see her wiping at her eyes.

“I love you. Even the parts of you that drive me crazy. I know that there is no one else out there that is more perfect for me. You keep me balanced. You support me every single day. You don’t laugh at me when I go on rants about how a certain shade of pink isn’t the right shade of pink when we are out shopping even though I know that to you they look the exact same. You’re my person. And I cannot wait to marry you.”

Rey claps along with everyone else at the end of the speech, before holding her hands in a cone shape over her mouth to amplify her cheering. Ben joins in and Rey is pretty sure that they might be the loudest people on the roof. 

“Alright, alright,” Kaydel chuckles and Rey can see the blush rising on her chest. “Enough of this cheese. Let’s party!”

Rey takes Ben’s hand and walks them over to an empty table that she sees toward the back of the roof. Ben pulls her chair out for her and there's something so earnest about his movements and the kind of dorky grin that he can't keep off of his face that makes her heart stutter. 

"Want me to go get you some food?" He asks, looking over at the buffet that's lined up on the opposite side of the roof. The string of lights over their table just barely go above his head. They cast shadows along his face that Rey wants to trace.

It's more than a little distracting how badly she just wants to touch him whenever he is around. Now that she can, she's not sure how she resisted for long.

She squeezes his hand, which is resting on her shoulder as he waits for her to reply. She turns her head and kisses the side of his wrist.

"Yes, please." She answers, tilting her head back to look up at him. "And maybe some more drinks for us."

Ben furrows his eyebrows and looks down at his mostly full drink in confusion. "But I still have my drink."

Rey shrugs. "You won't by the time you get back. If you're smart, you'll get extra food for me to steal off your plate, too."

Ben just shakes his head and Rey can see a small eye roll, but he bends down and kisses her forehead before he walks away. 

And all Rey can think of is that she wants more of this. 

It's easy to imagine what a relationship with Ben could look like. Nights with the two of them going out with Kaydel and Rose or Poe and Finn. Maybe even all of them at once. Rey had a feeling that Kaydel and Poe would become fast friends.

Or nights when they could argue over what to watch while they cook dinner together. Because Ben likes to watch finance programs and historical documentaries. Which is fine. But sport documentaries and the occasional action movie are better. 

Or lunches spent at the office where instead of coming up with ideas for Amilyn and Snoke's next date or event, they could focus on them. She could talk to Ben about how she hasn't made any progress on the foster homes and sports article that she told him about.

She wants him to vent at her when things don't go his way. She wants him to complain about his mom's meddling, even though she knows he secretly loves it. 

She likes the idea of going to get coffee in the mornings like they have been and knowing that nothing will really change. Except that if she wants to kiss him when they are waiting to cross the street, or when he's complaining about some inane analytical issue that she really doesn't understand…

Well, then she could. 

It's almost a little strange how easy it could be from them to go from whatever they were to being in a relationship. 

But it is too soon to think like things like that. Because despite what Ben said before Leia's lunch this day is supposed to be their first day and she needs to not get ahead of herself. 

She needs to still protect herself from getting hurt when it doesn't work out the way she plans. 

The only problem is that she doesn't want to worry about having to protect herself when all she wants is Ben. 

Rey grabs Ben's drink and takes a very large drink, the alcohol burns her throat as she swallows. Ben is walking back toward her, carefully holding a plate with food piled high in one hand and two drinks in the other. 

Rey takes the glasses from him and sets them down while Ben places the plate in the middle of the table and sits down.

Rey grabs a piece of cheese and tosses it into her mouth. Ben keeps his eyes on her, but doesn't say anything or take any of the food. 

He must have ordered a Something Old Fashioned for himself, judging by the amber liquid in his glass. 

"You look pensive," he points out, taking a drink. "Penny for your thoughts?"

“Just a penny?” Rey teases, grinning around the rim of her glass. “Is that all my thoughts are worth to you?”

“I might be convinced to go up to a quarter.” Ben grabs one of the small slices of bread from the plate. “I happen to have a bunch of those in my desk drawer still.”

Rey snorts, sticking her tongue out at him. “I’m thinking at least a dollar.”

“A whole dollar?” Ben tilts his head to the side. “Those must be some pretty good thoughts.”

“They aren’t bad.”

“What are they about?” He asks and he looks so interested in what she has to say and she can tell that he is genuinely curious as to what she is thinking about.

So she responds truthfully.

“You.”

“And they are good thoughts?” Ben asks and Rey loves watching as he tries to stop himself from smiling.

She really just likes that she makes him smile so much. 

"Yes," Rey looks away for a second. "Very good thoughts I think."

Ben stays silent and grabs one of the small blocks of cheesecake on the plate. 

"You didn't exactly look like you were thinking happy thoughts," he admits after he finishes the bite. 

For a second Rey considers telling him her fears. How she's worried that she's too much, that it's too soon for her to feel the way she is feeling.

But they have time.

The realization that they really do is freeing.

"Good thoughts," Rey says. "I promise."

Ben nods, giving her a small smile.

Rey grabs another appetizer off of the plate.

"You know," she starts, pausing to eat the food. "All I've had today is appetizers. Another one of these-" Rey looks down at her drink, "and I'm going to need pizza. Be prepared."

Ben laughs, grabbing her hand. "I think I'll be able to find pizza somewhere in New York for you."

"Just for me?"

Ben looks away and Rey enjoys the way she can see the slight embarrassment on his face. 

"I like pizza too," he finally settles on saying. "So maybe a little for me."

They finish their drinks and food in relative silence. The music is still loud and Rey tugs on his hand once he finishes his last bit of food.

"Dance with me?" she asks, squeezing his hand.

"Yeah," he answers. "I'd love to."

The song that is playing when they first make their way to the makeshift dance floor is a popular song. It's fast and Rey sways to the rhythm and watches as Ben stays still for a moment.

But then he moves.

And Ben Solo is not a good dancer. 

He's awkward and waving his arms above his head and has no sense of rhythm at all. Rey finds it endearing, the laughter falling out of her mouth without any thought. 

She grabs his hands, moving them more in time with the beat and grins when he lets her.

"You're terrible at this," Rey chuckles. "I assumed your mom would have signed you up for dance lessons with your upbringing."

"She did," Ben muttered and there are frown lines deepening on his forehead and Rey finds it absolutely adorable how frustrated he is getting. "But she didn't have this kind of dancing in mind."

"Are you trying to tell me you could lead me in a waltz but you can't figure out the rhythm to one of the most popular songs?"

"Yes," Ben says and he looks so frustrated that Rey can't help but smile at him. "That's exactly what I'm saying."

"I'll have to make a request," Rey laughs. 

The song changes then to something slower, and Rey pulls on Ben's hands until he closes the distance between them and lets go of her hands to settle them on her hips. "Think you can handle swaying with me?"

"I guess we'll see," Ben says, pulling her a little closer to him. 

Rey plays with the hair covering the back of his neck, twisting it around her fingers before letting it go and starting again. She slides her other hand in between the collar of his shirt and his back. 

It's nice. Being held by Ben and dancing under the lights on a rooftop. 

"You're much better at this," Rey teases, lifting her head up to look at him. "I'll have to scratch clubbing off of our potential date lists though."

Ben shakes his head and pouts, but Rey can see the humor in his eyes. He looks at her with such adoration that it takes her breath away.

He kisses her then. His lips are soft and smooth against hers and it amazes her a bit at just how easy they have fallen into this routine. How he already knows just the right way to move his lips against hers to make her want more. 

She enjoys the way his tongue slides against hers and how his fingers dig into her sides when she moans softly into his mouth. 

They are surrounded by people, but in that moment everyone else seems to fade away and all she can focus on is Ben.

If she doesn't pull away soon, she knows that she's going to get too carried away in public.

So she breaks the kiss, breathing heavily as she looks up at Ben and smiles. He kisses the tip of her nose and then her forehead before pulling her back to rest her head on his chest again.

He keeps dancing with her. His hands resting on her lower back as they sway in time to the music. With her head pressed against his chest, she can hear the way his heart is racing.

It's perfect.

***

Rose Tico is a foot shorter than Ben, but she is easily one of the most intimidating people he can recall recently meeting. Kaydel brings her over once Ben and Rey finish dancing. Where Kaydel is bright and bubbly and talkative, Rose seems a little more reserved. 

Yet, somehow, Rose manages to look happier than Kaydel, which honestly Ben isn't quite sure how that's possible since he's positive Kaydel hasn't stopped smiling all night, and still Rose manages to appear absolutely menacing as she looks him up and down. 

Finally, after a few moments of just taking him in, she nods in what he thinks might be approval and smiles at him. 

"It's nice to meet you," she says, letting go of Kaydel's hand and walking toward him and pulling him down into a hug. "Rey has been talking about you so much lately. It's nice to have a face for the stories."

"Hopefully only the good ones," Ben laughs as he lets go of Rose and stands straight. "I'm sure some of the earlier ones weren't the most flattering."

"Nah," Rose waves her hand. "Even then, it was obvious that she liked you."

"What?" Rey squeaks, scrunching up her nose. "It was absolutely not obvious. I don't even think I did like him back then."

Rose and Kaydel just look at each other and Ben watches in amusement as they share a look that clearly shows that they believe Rey is lying. 

"Oh really?" Kaydel asks, resting one hand against her hip. "You didn't like him at all? That's why you woke up extra early to go to a bank to pay him back in change? Because you were completely apathetic toward him."

Rey blushes. "No, I didn't have to wake up that much earlier. And I did it to be annoying. I did it out of spite."

"Right," Rose says with a laugh. "Rey, in the entire time I've known you I've seen you willingly wake up early less than a dozen times. But, sure, keep telling yourself that."

"I hate you both," Rey says, but she's smiling and squeezing his hand. "You both promised you weren't going to say anything to embarrass me."

Kaydel rolls her eyes. "You two were making out on the dance floor less than ten minutes ago. And you're embarrassed that we are telling him that you liked him after you met? If you'd like I could break out the story of the frat party we went to freshman year when you got so drunk you decided to-"

Rey let's go of Ben's hand and steps forward so she's close enough to place her hand over Kaydel's mouth to silence her. 

Ben laughs at the horrified expression on Rey's face.

"We swore to never talk about that night," Rey says, her voice a little raised. "So let's not."

Kaydel grins behind Rey's hand, her eyes crinkling in the corners. Rey removes her hand, shaking her head as she finishes her drink. 

"All I'm saying," Kaydel shrugs, "is that I have a list of embarrassing stories about you, and your obvious crush on Ben is nowhere near being on the list."

"If it makes you feel better," Ben pauses and squeezes Rey's hand when she looks over at him. "I'm pretty sure Poe would say the same thing. You were all I talked about after we met. Even if I was complaining about this annoying woman I ran into who paid me back in quarters. You were still cute. A part of me definitely liked you back then."

"That's really embarrassing for you, Ben," Rey teases, but she's beaming at him and leaning up to kiss him.

"Hey!" Ben can feel someone, Kaydel he thinks, swatting at his arm as he kisses Rey. "This is our engagement party. We're supposed to be the only mushy couple here."

Rey pulls away, her cheeks pink. She opens her mouth to say something, but then her stomach grumbles. The noise is loud and distracting and Rey laughs.

"I love you both," Rey says, pulling both Kaydel and Rose into her arms. She kisses their cheeks. "I'm so, so, so happy for you."

Rey steps back, and Ben smiles to himself as she grabs his hand almost on instinct. 

"But I have had nothing but appetizers all day," Rey makes a pained face before continuing. "I am starving and I need pizza. And there's no pizza on this roof. So I must go."

Rose laughs, nodding. "Very sound logic, babe."

"It was really nice to meet you guys," Ben says to Kaydel and Rose. "Congratulations, again, on the engagement."

"Thank you," Kaydel grins at him before giving him a hug. "Now go get our girl some pizza."

***

The pizza smells amazing. 

Honestly. That's the only thing Rey has really thought about since they picked up the pizza. It smells warm and cheesy and absolutely wonderful. 

All Rey wants to do is find a place that they can sit down so that she can finally, finally eat real food.

But Ben reminds her that it's the middle of the night and they both have apartments they could go back to instead and eat the pizza there.

Off real plates. Like adults.

It's hard for Rey to make counter arguments for just eating a slice while they walk home when Ben just keeps rattling off different reasons why it'll be better for them to wait.

She does, however, roll her eyes a little bit when he brings up that it's just a little unsanitary to eat while walking down the street.

"Okay, okay!" Rey holds her hands up in defeat. "I'll wait until we are inside. But I can't be held responsible for my actions until I've eaten."

"Fair."

"And," Rey continues, holding up a finger. "I'm going to need at least five minutes alone with the pizza whenever we get to where we are going."

Ben raises his eyebrows as he glances to the side at Rey. "You need me to just drop you off so you guys can have the night together?"

Rey lifts her hand up to her jaw while she pretends to ponder his question. "No, I think five minutes is all we'll need. We'll have a short, but passionate affair."

Ben just shakes his head and sighs. It's fun to watch his face change from being slightly annoyed to maybe a little infatuated with her. Rey's noticed the look more and more lately whenever she says something a little more ridiculous than usual he looks like he can't tell if he wants to have a ten minute argument about the issue or push her against the nearest wall and make out.

At the moment, Rey's a little partial to option two, but she really does love arguing with him. 

"Your place? Or mine?" Rey finally asks when they start approaching the intersection where it'll really make a difference in which way they go depending on where they are headed. 

"Poe and Finn might be at my place," Ben says after a moment. He recenters and balances the pizza box in his hand and then scratches awkwardly at the back of his neck before continuing, "I'm not sure what you had planned for the night."

Rey smiles at him and reaches up for his hand, she pulls it down to her lips and kisses the inside of his wrist. "Ben, after my five minutes alone with the pizza, I'm all yours."

A flush creeps up Ben's neck as he nods. "What about Rose and Kaydel?"

“Rose’s sister got them a room at this place down the street from the venue,” Rey answers. “Figured it would be easier for them to relax if they didn’t have to worry about getting back across town after the party.”

“So my place then,” Rey squeezes Ben’s hand. “Since it’ll just be us.”

Ben nods and draws circles against her wrist with his thumb. The small movements are something he does when he’s nervous, she’s starting to realize. The way he fidgets and moves when he’s unsure of what he should do. 

It’s endearing. 

“Your place,” Ben confirms when they reach the next light. 

He turns left and heads toward her apartment. 

***

Ben grabs another slice of pizza, tugging on it slightly to pull the slice and break it free from the string of cheese that is still trying to hold on to what remains of the pizza.

Rey is sitting next to him on the floor, their backs pressed up against the couch. She’s got her legs stretched out in front of her and the dress of her skirt is bunched up high on her thighs. She grins at him when she catches him staring at her, taking an obnoxiously large bite of the slice of pizza in her hand. A piece of cheese lands on her chin and Ben chuckles as he lifts his hand to wipe it off. 

"Thanks," Rey says and then swallows her food. "You better hurry up and eat that if you want the last slice. Cause I could still eat."

Ben shakes his head, but he pushes the box a little bit closer to Rey. "All yours," Ben offers. "I think two slices is my limit anyway."

Rey rolls her eyes and takes another bite. "You have no idea what you are missing out on with your silly limits."

"A long, healthy life?" Ben teases, but he does take another bite of the slice cooling in his hands. 

Rey scrunches her face and shakes her head. "Overrated."

Ben laughs, brushing his hand against the top of Rey's leg that's pressed against his own. 

"How's writing been going?" Ben asks after a few minutes of them eating in silence. 

"Not great," Rey admits with a small shrug. "And by not great I mean I haven't written a single word."

"Why not?" Ben responds, hoping that he sounds more curious than pushy. "You always sound so passionate about the topic when you talk about it."

"I am really passionate about it." Rey pauses, taking another bite of pizza. "I think that maybe that's part of the problem. The article means too much to me. I'm so worried that I won't do it justice and so when I go to start… it's like all of the words just disappear."

"You," Ben starts, lifting his hand from her leg to gently tap a finger against her temple, "need to get out of your head. Whatever you write is going to do the topic justice. Because you're you. I've seen you talk more passionately about pizza than some other writers put into their articles."

"What if I'm a bad writer?" Rey quietly asks, looking down at the floor. "I haven't written anything since I graduated. I keep saying it's because I'm too busy, but what if I'm really just bad at it?"

Ben shakes his head and then realizes Rey isn't looking at him and can't see him. He cups her face, and waits until she lifts her head up to look at him. 

"I have no doubt that you're not a bad writer." Ben smiles as Rey leans into his hand. "But even if you are, bad writing can be fixed. What can't be fixed is all of these great ideas living in your head when you're the only one with access."

Rey tosses the remainder of her pizza into the box and kisses him.

"You know how I needed help getting into this dress?" Rey asks, running her thumb along his jaw.

"Yeah," Ben responds, a little breathless."

"I think I might need help getting out too."

***

It surprises Rey how easy it is to just be with Ben. She doesn't feel the usual shyness she does when he looks at her. Instead she almost feels cherished.

She likes it.

Ben's hands are warm as they slide down her arms. He brushes his lips against her collarbone before he reaches behind her and slides the zipper of her dress down.

Rey tilts her head to the side to give him better access and smiles when Ben immediately moves his lips up to suck gently at the juncture of her neck and collarbone.

He moves his hands slowly across her back, dragging his fingers against her skin. Then, he slowly slides the sleeves of her dress down, his lips following the straps and kissing the newly exposed skin.

"You're gorgeous," Ben says, his breath hot against her neck. "Have I told you that?"

Rey's laughter is light and airy. "I can always hear it again."

"You're beautiful," Ben whispers, pushing the dress down her hips. His hands glide back up her sides as the dress pools at her feet. "Absolutely, devastatingly beautiful." 

Rey's skin feels warmer as Ben runs his hands down the skin he exposed. She shivers slightly when he runs a finger along the curve of her breast. 

"You're one to talk," Rey says before taking a sharp breath when Ben rolls one of her nipples between two of his large fingers. She closes her eyes, instinctively trying to push her body closer to Ben's, seeking more friction.

"You think I'm devastatingly beautiful?" Ben asks, and Rey almost hates the way she can see him smirking even with her eyes closed.

Rey hums her agreement, opening her eyes. She gives Ben a small smile before leaning up and kissing him. 

His lips move against hers with ease. Rey buries her fingers in the silky threads of his hair as she deepens in the kiss. 

Ben slowly begins moving them toward her bed. The movements are a little awkward, Ben is bent over a bit to kiss Rey, and appears to be more focused on kissing her than moving them. 

"You're still dressed," Rey points out in between kisses once the back of her legs finally hit the side of her mattress. She kisses Ben one last time, her lips hovering against his for a second before she pulls away. Dragging her hands across his shoulders, Rey makes quick work of undoing the buttons on Ben's shirt.

Ben's chest is broad, his skin warm against Rey's hand as she slides her fingers down his body. Ben kisses her when her fingers finally reach his pants, distracting her from undoing the buttons. 

It's a little unfair how easy it is for her to get lost in the way kissing Ben makes her feel. There's a bit more desperation in the way he moves his mouth against hers. She can feel it in the way his hands grip her hips when he pulls her closer. It's in the way his tongue slides against hers and he swallows her moans.

She thinks she might be content just kissing Ben Solo for the rest of her life.

But they're in her bedroom and she's already undressed and she gets to do so much more with him.

It's a far too tempting offer to pass up.

She breaks the kiss, grinning at the sounds of protest Ben makes and at the way Ben chases after her lips immediately without thought. Placing a kiss on his collarbone, Rey unbuttons his pants.

Ben helps by stepping out of the pants once Rey starts pushing the fabric down. And then, finally, he is as free of clothes as she is.

"Much better," Rey says, running a hand up his thigh before climbing on to her bed. 

Ben doesn't waste any time before he is following her, his body on top of hers as she settles into the mattress.

His mouth feels like heaven on her skin as he kisses her neck, working his way down to her chest. He gently sucks her nipple into his mouth, his tongue flicking against it.

Then, he palms her other breast with his hand, his finger mimicking the same motions as his tongue on her other nipple.

Rey's pretty sure she sees stars when she closes her eyes and sighs his name. 

"You look beautiful like this," Ben whispers, his breath hot and a little wet against her skin. He places another open mouthed kiss just below the curve of her breast before continuing. "You look beautiful all the time, really. But like this… there isn't a word adequate to describe how beautiful you look."

Rey feels her skin warm and she knows that there's a blush blooming and spreading along her body. But Ben's mouth is moving down her stomach, small kisses being pressed into her exposed skin. He teases her opening with one of his fingers, spreading her wetness around while he presses his lips against her hip bone. 

"I wanted to do this earlier, but I knew we didn't have the time," he says, adjusting his body until his mouth is positioned just above her clit and Rey's heart feels like it's hammering out of her chest in anticipation. 

"We have time now," Rey manages to get out, looking down at Ben and holding his gaze. "Really, we have all the time in the world now."

There's a mischievous glint in Ben's eyes and his grin is a little too smug for Rey. She considers saying something, teasing words almost escaping her lips to bring his ego back down, at least a little. Only then Ben lowers his mouth and sucks at her clit, one of his fingers easily slipping inside of her.

On the third sweep of his tongue through her folds, and the stretch of him adding a second finger, Rey decides that Ben Solo can have whatever sized ego he wants. So long as he keeps using his mouth and hands to fuck her. 

Her brain short circuits a little when she tries thinking of what it'll be like when he actually fucks her. 

It doesn't take long for overwhelming pleasure to build up in Rey and spread across her body. Ben seems to pay attention to every gasp and moan and is quick to learn just what she needs to be brought right to the brink.

Which is where he seems to like to leave her. He keeps building her up, sucking on her clit, while thrusting his fingers inside of her, but then lightly licking at her whenever she gets too close.

“Ben,” Rey whines, running her fingers through his hair. “You’re a giant tease.”

“Not a tease,” Ben says with a grin, placing a kiss on the inside of Rey’s thigh. “I just don’t want this to end.”

“That’s sweet,” Rey admits, tugging on the ends of Ben’s hair, trying to get him back to where she wants him. She’s pretty sure she can feel him grin against her skin as he teases her. “But I really, really want to come, Ben.”

Ben hums, the vibrations spreading down her thigh. "I bet you look gorgeous when you come."

"You should make me come," Rey prods. "And find out for yourself."

Ben looks up at her, his breath hot against her folds as he breathes.

"Your skin is all flushed. I wonder how much more red it gets when you come."

"Again with all of the wondering," Rey complains, gently digging her fingers into his scalp as she presses down on his head. "When you could be using your mouth to find out instead of talk--"

Rey's sentence ends in more of a moan when Ben finally does lower his mouth back on her. 

She hates it for just a moment how easily Ben is able to build her back up. The familiar warmth spreads through her as he works her closer to the brink.

She comes with his name on her lips and it is almost overwhelming how Ben continues to suck and lick at her while she comes down. 

"You are gorgeous when you come," Ben says as he places a kiss on her hip bone. 

He kisses the skin just under her breast.

"Good to know," Rey whispers, lifting her arms above her head and stretching. 

Ben grins, his mouth wide and his eyes crinkling at the corners. 

He's so devastatingly beautiful that it takes Rey's breath away. Rey leans forward to kiss him. She enjoys the way his tongue slides against hers, the way he holds his body weight just off of her, but he’s still close enough that she can feel him.

She pushes against his shoulder until he gives in and lets Rey move them around until she’s sitting on top of his lap. 

She kisses his jaw, and down his neck, sucking a small bruise into his skin just below his collarbone. She lowers her head more, kissing down down his sternum. 

Ben’s fingers press gently under her chin until Rey looks up at him. 

“Yeah?” Rey breaths in between kisses against his chest. 

“I would very much like to be inside of you the next time I come,” Ben says and the hint of redness in his cheeks and his ears makes Rey’s heart swell.

Rey nods, giving him an understanding smile. She leans across her bed, pulling open her dresser drawer and rummages around until she finally feels a foil wrapper underneath her fingers.

She tears open the packet and leans back over Ben. She rolls the condom down his length and tosses the wrapper toward the trash can next to her bed.

She slowly lowers herself down onto Ben until she's fully settled against him. She rolls her hips slowly, smiling at the small moan that falls from Ben's lips at her movements.

She enjoys that Ben doesn't seem to hold back from being noisy when they are together.

There's a sense of power that falls over her whenever he makes a sound.

It doesn't take long at all for Rey to find a rhythm that brings her close to the edge. It's just enough to bring her close to an orgasm, but not enough to push her over. 

Ben leans forward, wrapping his lips around one of her nipples. His fingers run down her stomach, before lightly pressing down onto her clit. 

Rey's movements are sloppy as she tries to keep up her pace. Thankfully, Ben seems to have no problem taking over and lifting his hips up into her. 

He presses his fingers down harder, quickly circling them against her clit. 

All it takes is one final suck on her nipple and she's falling apart around her. She digs her fingers into his chest, trying to just hold on as he keeps pumping into her and finds his own release.

Rey rolls over and lays down next to him, smiling shyly as he removes the condom and throws it away.

He wraps his arms around her and pulls Rey into his chest. She wraps her fingers around his, and pulls his hand up to rest against his chest.

"I really like you," Rey whispers against his skin. 

Ben's heart seems to beat faster under her ear.

"I really like you too," Ben answers after a moment, his free hand drawing shapes against her shoulder blades. "So much."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come say hi to me on [Twitter](https://www.twitter.com/ohemgeeitscoley)

**Author's Note:**

> Come say hi to me on [Twitter](https://www.twitter.com/ohemgeeitscoley) and [Tumblr](https://ohemgeeitscoley.tumblr.com/).


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